LevaData, a provider of a cloud-based system designed with artificial intelligence technology to help companies find the most appropriate industrial suppliers, received $5 million in funding this week.

The company, founded in 2014, uses artificial intelligence, or AI, software in its supply chain sourcing technology platform. The platform is designed to help its client procurement professionals match their product purchasing needs with suppliers that offer the best mix of such criteria as product availability and pricing. AI is a term used to describe software that learns from the data it compiles to improve on its own such functions as recommending products or sources of products.

“Our vision is to revolutionize the way procurement leaders manage their sourcing and procurement by being able to sense opportunities and risks faster, make smarter decisions, and act effectively using the latest AI technologies,” says CEO and founder Rajesh Kalidindi. “We are leveraging our roots in supply chain operations to offer a purpose-built cognitive sourcing platform that helps sourcing, supply chain and product engineering professionals make the right part and supplier choices, optimize costs and reduce risk.”

Venture Capital firm Tola Capital is financing LevaData’s Series A funding round of $5 million. “Supply chain innovation is a top area of focus for us,” Tola principal Aaron Fleishman says. He adds that LevaData has developed “a modern, AI-enabled platform for procurement.”

“Cognitive” sourcing and procurement technology platforms are also being developed and offered by other vendors, who are building on developments in AI technology to help companies analyze and use data taken from multiple sources to match their procurement needs with available inventory from multiple sources. The data includes such information as a buying organization’s existing inventory records and purchasing history, available inventory across networks of suppliers, and the reputations of individual suppliers related to their abilities to deliver quality products at promised times.

Earlier this year, for example, IBM Corp. entered an agreement with procurement network and technology provider SAP Ariba, a unit of business operations software company SAP SE, to develop procurement applications designed to match buyers with the most appropriate suppliers, and help the suppliers set contract terms most likely to close deals and build sales volume.

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