Scout RFP is peering ahead to a stronger position in the business of sourcing and procurement.

Alex Yakubovich,
CEO, Scout RFP

The San Francisco-based company already lists 27,000 users of its cloud-based sourcing software across 89 countries, and with a fresh supply of venture capital it’s primed to grow both its technology and its ability to serve global customers, CEO Alex Yakubovich says.

Scout last week received $15.5 million in Series B funding from investors, bringing its total funding to date to $27.25 million. It plans to use the funds to further develop its software and expand its technology’s ability to help clients better manage international sourcing projects, the company says. In effect, it expects to help its clients better collaborate with suppliers and derive financial benefits from more efficient and suitable contracts, it says.

Companies use Scout’s software for such tasks as lining up and choosing suppliers through requests for proposals and related documents, conducting “reverse auctions” that let multiple suppliers bid on a procurement contract, and running analytical reports to identify savings in sourcing projects.

“Sourcing has long been seen through a purely operational lens, rather than as a function which can truly impact the bottom line,” Yakubovich says. “Scout is fundamentally shifting that misconception.”

“Scout’s e-sourcing product is improving the way organizations go from ‘source to contract,’” adds Matt Murphy, managing director of investor Menlo Ventures, which particpated in the funding round. He notes that many companies, including some of those in the Fortune 2000, are still using a combination of email, Excel spreadsheets and Microsoft Word word-processing software to manage their sourcing projects, including RFPs and other documents.

Murphy, who will join Scout’s board, says Scout and its investors want Scout to become for sourcing what Salesforce.com Inc. has become for customer relationship management. (Salesforce, which is No. 326 in the Fortune 500, reported $8.39 billion in revenue for the year ended Jan. 31, 2017.)

In addition to Menlo Ventures, other investors in Scout include New Enterprise Associates.

Scout’s clients including Adobe Systems Inc., Owens Corning, Intuit Inc., easyJet plc, ServiceNow Inc., Cerner Corp. and Zebra Technologies.

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