Knowde operates an online marketplace that connects chemical and polymer suppliers with buyers. Launched in 2017 and based in San Jose, the platform hosts more than 8,000 chemical suppliers and serves customers including Unilever, Johnson & Johnson and P&G. Co-founder and CEO Ali Amin-Javaheri has deep industry experience, having worked at ChemPoint prior to founding Knowde. The company has raised more than $150 million in venture funding to date. Knowde recently closed a $60 million Series C at a lower valuation than the roughly $500 million valuation from its prior round; sources said the new round values the company at north of 20x ARR. Knowde is a San Jose, Calif.-based online marketplace connecting producers and buyers of ingredients, polymers and chemistry. Buyers can search, compare, sample, quote and purchase more than 100,000 products and thousands of producer storefronts globally. The company recently expanded its presence to cover every major vertical across the entire industry. Knowde raised $72m in Series B financing. It intends to use the funds for product development for new buyer and supplier features, further enhancements to its ecommerce capabilities, and international expansion opportunities. The core product is an e‑commerce marketplace that streamlines discovery and procurement of chemical ingredients for producers and buyers. Knowde operates an online marketplace and storefront infrastructure that aims to replace traditional distributors and field sales in the specialty-chemicals industry by making product catalogs and searchable taxonomies available online. The platform aggregates disparate product data, standardizes descriptions into a single taxonomy, and provides plumbing and storefront tools so producers can sell directly to buyers. Knowde launched sales in early January and saw rapid adoption from industry customers, with at least one flavors supplier reporting a greater-than-1,000% sales increase after listing legacy products. The company currently operates in three verticals and plans to expand into all ten defined verticals within the year. Founder Ali Amin-Javaheri previously built a company that grew to $400 million in revenue selling technology and services to the chemicals industry, and he is positioning Knowde as the next phase of digitization for a $5 trillion global chemicals market. Knowde raised a $14 million Series A to support growth amid the COVID-19-related economic downturn.

Total raised

$146M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series C

Latest activity

Aug 2024