The government procurement-focused tech company Glass announced the public release of multiple artificial intelligence (AI)-powered features for G-Commerce, its marketplace website.

Glass framed the push as a reintroduction of G-Commerce for the government agencies that use it. Among the new capabilities it is promoting are improvements to search, analytics and flows for requesting quotes.

Ultimately, Glass wants to entice suppliers to sell through its platform. It specifically cited federal agencies and public schools as buyers that it sees an opportunity to serve.

Who Glass is trying to reach with its G-Commerce procurement marketplace

“How public schools buy has a direct impact on who they can serve and what they can provide,” said Paola Santana, the CEO at Glass. “Better procurement means maximizing every education dollar — giving more students access to public education while ensuring schools have the resources, technology, and learning environments they need to help students thrive.”

Santana characterized the mission at Glass as serving the public interest.

“We believe transforming how schools buy can have a multiplier effect: better procurement enables better education and, ultimately, better futures,” she stated.

Since Glass launched in 2020, the company claims to have processed in excess of $15.2 million in government purchases. That is nearly double the $8 million that the company reported to date in January.

Among its customers are at least 125 public agencies and 60,000 government users, according to its latest announcement. Moreover, Glass reports having been responsible for more than $5 million going to small businesses, with at least 18.5 million products made available via supplier catalogs and its marketplace.

What are G-Commerce’s new features?

In its press release, Glass outlined seven categories of new capabilities that it has added to G-Commerce. Those include:

1. AI-powered product search and discovery.
2. Improvements to dashboards and analytics for administrators.
3. Updated navigation and product organization as part of a larger redesign.
4. Order tracking and purchase visibility options.
5. Product reviews and quote request feature to inform buying decisions.
6. Reliability and scaling-oriented updates to the platform.
7. An expanded network of manufacturers and suppliers.

With these additions, Glass seeks to increase its share of what it said are $40 billion in annual purchases made by federal agencies through Government Purchase Card (GPC) programs. It noted that those buyers represent more than 250,000 cardholders who purchase technology, office supplies, industrial equipment, software, safety products and mission-critical resources. Meanwhile, it sees at least 100,000 public schools with 49 million students in the U.S. as a $1 trillion market with their annual spending.

San Francisco-based Glass is backed by funding from New Age Capital, Newtopia VC, Alcove Capital, SV Links, Kittyhawk Ventures, One Planet VC, Worldgate Group, Alchemist Accelerator and Tubbs Ventures, who all participated in a $3 million round that the company raised in 2023.

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