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B2B procurement—the process of sourcing goods and materials from vendors—is notoriously complicated, opaque, expensive, and slow. Procuring furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E) in the commercial construction industry can be especially complex, making this $500B market subject to long lead times and unpredictable fees and delays.
Enter Source, a B2B marketplace that connects architecture and design clients to suppliers. Source is building the essential managed marketplace to bring together architects and designers, building owners, and commercial FF&E suppliers—making for a more streamlined purchasing process.
Source already has the largest FF&E catalog in the world and is a known brand in the space—and it’s still just getting started. There are over 65,000 architecture and design firms in the US, and Source is on its way to becoming an integral part of their workflows.
With Source’s integrated search platform, commercial architects and designers can both build their FF&E plans and make purchases for large-scale construction projects. Designers can peruse thousands of inventory items in the Source library, create lookbooks, set budgets, automatically create purchase orders, and see lead times all in one place. On the supply side, suppliers can communicate with buyers, update stock availability, pricing, and lead times, and facilitate transactions.
With Source, 1000+ line item purchase orders that used to take a week to compile can be finished in minutes. The Source product team has also begun integrating AI into its product recommendation engine and plans to launch an automated design assistant.
Today, Source is servicing hundreds of projects across hospitality, office, multifamily residential, and commercial spaces. While each vertical has its own nuances, procurement can cause headaches across the space for both new builds and renovations, making Source a widely needed resource.
As investors, what got us most excited about Source was the effusive customer feedback that we got from owners, architects, and designers across all of these categories. The customers we met sang Source’s praises—praises backed up by strong engagement data—and nearly every other designer or architect that we met with asked for an immediate introduction.
One reason for this enthusiasm is CEO Nicole Schmidt. When we first met Nicole, we were immediately impressed with her insight into the construction industry at large and design specifically. Her deep customer empathy and optimism that technology can create a better experience for everyone involved in the construction process has led her and the entire Source team to create a business that we knew we had to support.
We are proud to have led Source’s $8.5M Series A, investing alongside our friends at Rogue Venture Partners, Oregon Venture Fund, Rise of the Rest, and Founders’ Co-Op. Notably, Source’s earlier investors have all been local to the Portland and Seattle ecosystems—and now, M13 is happy to represent Los Angeles and New York as we help Source continue its national expansion. To the entire Source team: we are grateful for your decision to partner with M13, and we can’t wait to get to work.
B2B procurement—the process of sourcing goods and materials from vendors—is notoriously complicated, opaque, expensive, and slow. Procuring furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E) in the commercial construction industry can be especially complex, making this $500B market subject to long lead times and unpredictable fees and delays.
Enter Source, a B2B marketplace that connects architecture and design clients to suppliers. Source is building the essential managed marketplace to bring together architects and designers, building owners, and commercial FF&E suppliers—making for a more streamlined purchasing process.
Source already has the largest FF&E catalog in the world and is a known brand in the space—and it’s still just getting started. There are over 65,000 architecture and design firms in the US, and Source is on its way to becoming an integral part of their workflows.
With Source’s integrated search platform, commercial architects and designers can both build their FF&E plans and make purchases for large-scale construction projects. Designers can peruse thousands of inventory items in the Source library, create lookbooks, set budgets, automatically create purchase orders, and see lead times all in one place. On the supply side, suppliers can communicate with buyers, update stock availability, pricing, and lead times, and facilitate transactions.
With Source, 1000+ line item purchase orders that used to take a week to compile can be finished in minutes. The Source product team has also begun integrating AI into its product recommendation engine and plans to launch an automated design assistant.
Today, Source is servicing hundreds of projects across hospitality, office, multifamily residential, and commercial spaces. While each vertical has its own nuances, procurement can cause headaches across the space for both new builds and renovations, making Source a widely needed resource.
As investors, what got us most excited about Source was the effusive customer feedback that we got from owners, architects, and designers across all of these categories. The customers we met sang Source’s praises—praises backed up by strong engagement data—and nearly every other designer or architect that we met with asked for an immediate introduction.
One reason for this enthusiasm is CEO Nicole Schmidt. When we first met Nicole, we were immediately impressed with her insight into the construction industry at large and design specifically. Her deep customer empathy and optimism that technology can create a better experience for everyone involved in the construction process has led her and the entire Source team to create a business that we knew we had to support.
We are proud to have led Source’s $8.5M Series A, investing alongside our friends at Rogue Venture Partners, Oregon Venture Fund, Rise of the Rest, and Founders’ Co-Op. Notably, Source’s earlier investors have all been local to the Portland and Seattle ecosystems—and now, M13 is happy to represent Los Angeles and New York as we help Source continue its national expansion. To the entire Source team: we are grateful for your decision to partner with M13, and we can’t wait to get to work.
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