Ilya Levtov, CEO of Craft, discusses how his company is revolutionizing supply chain management with an AI-powered platform that provides 360-degree visibility and risk mitigation. Learn how Craft helps governments and enterprises proactively avoid supply chain disasters by monitoring and analyzing vast amounts of data.
Key takeaways
- Craft's platform uses over 2,000 data points across 14 dimensions to provide a 360-degree view of a company, going beyond traditional financial metrics to include operational, environmental, social, governance, and cybersecurity insights.
- Cross-correlation of data points, such as employee sentiment and cybersecurity vulnerabilities, can provide predictive insights into potential supplier risks, enabling proactive mitigation strategies.
- AI-driven tools, like Craft's Intelligent Workspace, can significantly reduce the time required to generate comprehensive risk reports, from eight person-hours to just 45 seconds.
- A multi-source data validation approach, using multiple providers for the same data type, improves data integrity and flags potential inaccuracies for deeper investigation.
- Companies should prioritize building resilient supply chains that are closer, more controlled, and less reliant on brittle, just-in-time models, especially in the face of geopolitical instability and evolving tariff landscapes.
Who this episode is for
- Supply chain professionals
- Procurement leaders
- Risk management professionals
- Government agencies
- Enterprise leaders
Nataraj welcomes Ilya Levtov, CEO of Craft, to the Startup Project podcast. The episode dives into the complexities of global supply chains and how Craft is helping governments and enterprises build more resilient systems. Ilya's background includes stints at Goldman Sachs and Venrock, providing a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities in the supply chain space.
The Evolving Landscape of Global Supply Chains
Ilya notes that the pandemic exposed the brittleness of global supply chains, which had become overly reliant on outsourcing and just-in-time inventory management. While the pandemic brought attention to the issue, the focus has shifted to more secular concerns, recognizing the inherent complexity and dynamism of global supply chains.
He emphasizes that we are still in the early stages of truly mapping and understanding supply chains with data and intelligence.
Key Concerns and Risk Dimensions
Ilya highlights several key risk dimensions that are top of mind for supply chain leaders. These include cybersecurity, geopolitical risks (such as weaponization of the supply chain and foreign ownership concerns), ESG considerations, and traditional financial stability concerns.
He emphasizes that large enterprises often struggle to integrate disparate data sources and build comprehensive risk governance capabilities. Craft aims to solve this by delivering a holistic approach to supplier management and risk mitigation.
Ensuring Data Integrity and Proactive Risk Mitigation
Ilya explains that Craft addresses data integrity by using an “all of the above” strategy, incorporating multiple data sources for validation. This allows for comparison and flagging of potential inaccuracies, enabling targeted investigation.
Craft's platform helps companies identify and mitigate cyber risks by providing scores and qualitative attributions from leading cyber scanning companies. This allows companies to quickly identify vulnerable suppliers and implement mitigation efforts. Continuous monitoring ensures that even suppliers that appear safe are immediately flagged if their risk profile changes.
Craft's AI-Powered Intelligent Workspace
Ilya discusses how Craft leverages AI to enhance its platform, particularly through its Intelligent Workspace. This AI-driven tool provides procurement professionals with prioritized alerts on critical supplier events, such as financial distress, cyber vulnerabilities, and labor violations.
AI also significantly accelerates the creation of risk reports, reducing the time from days to seconds. Craft utilizes a range of existing LLMs, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google Gemini, and is exploring the development of its own supplier risk models to better cater to specific customer needs and risk tolerances.
Craft's Journey and Future Outlook
Ilya shares Craft's initial go-to-market strategy, which involved offering free company profiles to attract organic traffic and generate leads. This approach led to early adoption by government agencies and large enterprises.
Looking ahead, Craft aims to expand its supplier intelligence layer across the entire procurement and supply chain function, fostering collaboration and reducing silos within enterprises. The company also plans to enhance data egress and ingress, enabling seamless integration with other enterprise systems.
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