Enable-ing a New Generation of B2B Selling

The physical goods supply chain is one of the largest markets in the world, accounting for $70T of global trade. Every product we use, from the car we drive to the dishwasher that cleans our plates to the cell phones we spend far too much time on, has a complex web of trading partners who deal in various forms of trade agreements. These agreements are key to maintaining a vibrant supply chain. They incentivize behavior and collaboration between partners who are going through foundational transformations — shrinking margins, vendor consolidation, and unforgiving customer expectations. These forces have led buyers and sellers to creatively construct trade agreements to drive profits and incentivize sales, be it through promotions, volume rebates, special pricing agreements, and more. The use of rebates has become so ubiquitous that they often make up more than 100% of profits. They determine a supplier’s ability to drive margins, a distributor’s selection of which products to buy and sell, and a retailer’s ability to lower costs.

Despite the importance of rebates, the lion’s share of companies still rely on complex spreadsheets and manual updates to track and manage programs, progress, and owed payments. Andrew Butt, Founder and CEO of Enable, felt this pain while managing the division of a UK based distributor, where he spent just as much time manually tracking rebates and receivables as he did building his practice. This nuisance led him to create Enable to solve a personal need, and later productize it for the masses.

Enable is the leading cloud-based software solution that lets distributors, manufacturers and retailers manage their trade and rebate programs. The rebate management platform gives customers unparalleled visibility and management on current programs, increases the speed of cash collections and drives profit by helping customers maximize existing deals and negotiate better future deals. Customers invite their trading partners across their own supply chain directly onto Enable. Speed and fidelity of transactions are enriched as each additional supplier is onboarded, and suppliers find equal utility in managing their incentives through Enable. This customer loop creates both virality and network effects the likes of which are rarely found in enterprise software.

Today, Lightspeed’s Growth Team is excited to announce our investment in Enable. As we dove into this market, we grew an appreciation for how Enable automates the legacy, manual processes that underpin every B2B supply chain deal. They bring confidence and visibility into finance, sales and marketing, IT, legal and compliance and C-suite teams. Enable has been able to serve mom and pop distributors all the way through companies like Schneider Electric and Mitie. Customers span industries ranging from industrial supplies to healthcare to consumer retail.

The customer love for Enable is palpable. We heard first-hand how quickly the platform seeps into departments beyond finance. It doesn’t take long for procurement and legal to enter the platform to better understand deal terms with their trading partners. Enable rapidly becomes the system of record for all trade agreements in a company, making it a product that multiple teams use daily. Customers told us they realize an average of 400% ROI with Enable, often after year one, making the platform incredibly sticky and mission critical.

Finally, we were impressed by the world-class team Enable has built (and continues to be hiring for). The combination of Andrew’s deep appreciation for customer needs as well as the GTM powerhouse Jerry Brooner and his team have built make for a winning combination. We’re thrilled to partner with Enable as they reinvent B2B supply chain sales.

By Arsham Memarzadeh, Anoushka Vaswani and Shaurya Aggarwal, on behalf of the Lightspeed Growth Team