Spectee Raises 1.6 Billion Yen in E2 Round Second Close

Resilience-tech startup Spectee Inc. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Kenjiro Murakami; hereinafter "Spectee") is pleased to announce the completion of its E2 funding round through a third-party allotment of shares and loans from financial institutions. This brings the total amount raised in the E2 round to 1.6 billion yen, with a cumulative total of 3.6 billion yen raised to date.

The funds raised will be used to expand the business and enhance the product capabilities of "Spectee SCR," a supply chain risk management cloud service for the manufacturing industry. This round includes third-party allotments to Asuene Inc. and Toshiba Digital Solutions Corporation, in addition to TIS Inc. and the Sekisui House Investment Business Limited Liability Partnership announced in January of this year. Furthermore, the funding includes a direct loan from The Shoko Chukin Bank and venture debt from the Japan Finance Corporation.

An Era of Unprecedented "Uncertainty" Facing Supply Chains In recent years, the environment surrounding manufacturing supply chains has become increasingly uncertain. Factors include rising geopolitical risks due to international tensions, the intensification of natural disasters caused by climate change, supply anxieties stemming from dependence on specific countries or regions, and increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks.

Companies are being hit by unpredictable "complex crises" that threaten the very foundation of their business operations.

Two "Invisible" Challenges Facing the Manufacturing Industry Under these circumstances, the manufacturing industry faces two major challenges in supply chain risk management:

- First, the inability to quickly grasp the signs or occurrence of disasters, geopolitical risks, and other events. - Second, the inability to fully grasp the overall picture of multi-layered supply chains that extend down to individual parts and raw materials.

"Not knowing what is happening where" and "not being able to judge how far the impact will spread"—these "invisible" aspects are the greatest risk factors for companies.

Next-Generation Supply Chain Risk Management Pioneered by "Spectee SCR" "Spectee SCR" is a next-generation supply chain risk management cloud service that combines the world-class risk information platform Spectee has cultivated with a "Supplier Collaboration" function (*) that visualizes the multi-layered structure of global supply chains.

It detects disasters, accidents, and geopolitical risks in real-time, allowing companies to immediately understand which supplier locations and parts are affected, thereby solving the two "invisible" challenges faced by the manufacturing industry.

Furthermore, "Spectee SCR" goes beyond mere "information provision." By offering AI-driven risk forecasting and crisis avoidance suggestions, it serves as a "foundation for decision-making" that helps the manufacturing industry navigate uncertain times and supports rapid corporate decision-making.

Spectee will continue to take on challenges to become an infrastructure that enhances the resilience of the entire supply chain and supports the sustainable growth of society and industry.

(*) For more details on the supplier collaboration function, please check this release: https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000299.000016808.html

About "Spectee SCR" "Spectee SCR" is a supply chain risk management service that instantly visualizes all crises affecting the supply chain.

Based on diverse information such as social media, weather data, global local news, and geopolitical risk information, it detects crises occurring around suppliers in real-time. It also visualizes the entire supply chain, making it possible to quickly grasp connections between suppliers, damage status, impacts on parts and materials, and the possibility of delivery delays.

"Spectee SCR" Official Page URL: https://spectee.co.jp/service/specteescr/

Comment from Kenjiro Murakami, Representative Director and CEO of Spectee Inc. Due to rising geopolitical risks, such as the recent escalation of tensions in the Middle East, manufacturing supply chains are exposed to an environment more complex and unpredictable than ever before. In such an era, for companies to maintain and strengthen their competitiveness without halting procurement or production, it is essential to visualize the entire supply chain and possess the resilience to adapt to change.

Spectee has been providing services to national governments, local municipalities, and many companies with the goal of realizing a "data-driven resilient society" using AI. Leveraging the technology and know-how cultivated through these efforts, we will connect and visualize the supply chains of the manufacturing industry—which tend to become black boxes—and realize a system that can flexibly respond to risks.

I am very encouraged by the support we have received from many investors. To live up to these expectations, we will further commit to realizing strategic and resilient supply chain management through "Spectee SCR."

Comments from E2 Round Participants - Comment from Hiroshi Tsukino, Director and Managing Executive Officer, Toshiba Digital Solutions Corporation As uncertainty surrounding supply chains increases due to the severity of natural disasters and rising geopolitical risks, Spectee's efforts to visualize crisis information in real-time are becoming increasingly important. Since 2023, we have been collaborating in the fields of supply chain resilience and weather data services. With this funding, we will further strengthen our partnership, combining our supply chain management technology and expertise with the "Spectee SCR" risk information platform to contribute to our customers' rapid decision-making and improved resilience.

- Comment from Kohei Nishiwada, Founder and CEO, Asuene Inc. I am very pleased that Asuene has made its first investment partnership in Spectee, which provides AI crisis management cloud software for supply chains. With the recent surge in supply chain risk management needs and challenges due to the war in Iran and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Spectee can solve these issues as an AI crisis management software provider. Additionally, by having both parties provide services under white labels and perform data integration between Asuene's supply chain ESG evaluation cloud "ASUENE Supply Chain" and Spectee, we will strive to further solve supply chain challenges for manufacturing and other customers.

- Comment from Koshu Yamagishi, Fellow, Incubation Center, Social Innovation Division, TIS Inc. Recently, unpredictable risks such as the intensification of natural disasters due to climate change are occurring frequently, and the importance of risk management is increasing year by year. While risk information tends to be concentrated in urban areas, Spectee is highly regarded for utilizing diverse data sources such as social media and camera information from across Japan to visualize risk information nationwide in real-time, supporting rapid and accurate decision-making. Through our partnership with this leading Japanese resilience-tech startup, we will further promote efforts to solve "concentration in cities" and "decline of rural areas," which are among the four major social issues we are addressing.

- Comment from Koichi Takahashi, General Manager, Startup Business Department, The Shoko Chukin Bank Shoko Chukin deeply resonates with the purpose of "realizing a data-driven resilient society" advocated by Spectee. We provided this financing with the expectation that the company will achieve further growth both domestically and internationally as a top runner in the resilience field. Their flagship service, "Spectee Pro," continues to grow steadily and has earned a solid reputation as an information infrastructure for first reports during accidents and disasters among private companies, media organizations, and local governments. Furthermore, I am confident that new services such as "Spectee SCR" and "Smart Risk Management" will become increasingly indispensable for the complex and sophisticated supply chain risk management of companies. Shoko Chukin will continue to support Spectee's challenges and sustainable growth with all our might.

About Spectee Inc. Spectee is a startup that provides AI-powered SaaS in the resilience field. With the mission of "visualizing crises," it utilizes diverse data such as social media information, weather data, artificial satellites, and vehicle probe data to collect and analyze disasters and crises occurring around the world in real-time. Adoption is progressing for disaster prevention, BCP response, and supply chain risk management, with the number of contracts exceeding 1,000 as of July 2024. It is supported by many companies, government agencies, and local municipalities both in Japan and overseas.

<Company Overview> Headquarters: Gobancho YS Building, 12-3 Gobancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0076 Representative: Kenjiro Murakami, Representative Director and CEO Official Website: https://spectee.co.jp