Reykjavik’s pharmaceutical manufacturer supply chain planner Plaio swallows €2 million pill

Focusing on the generic pharma industry’s demand, manufacturing, and purchase planning processes, Reykjavik-based Plaio has raised €2 million in a pre-Series A funding round.

Although founded in May of this year, Plaio appears to be a natural extension of founder by Jóhann Guðbjargarson’s previous ventures, Rhino Aviation, an “Aircraft Inventory management systems designed to reduce turnaround times, optimize rotable stock and reduce cost”, and Rhino Solutions, a SaaS platform which, “helps companies optimise stock and manufacturing processes utilising modern SAAS software and ML/AI.” Just this time around, with a specific focus on the generic pharmaceutical manufacturing sector.

In fact, Rhino Solutions (and Plaio) list Swiss company MS Pharma and Icelandic pharmaceutical company Coripharma and as clients, the latter of which has been testing and validating the software for the past two years.

Constantly keeping tabs on the moving targets that are regulatory and compliance requirements of the pharmaceutical manufacturing processes, Plaio sits atop a company’s ERP system, and presents drug makers with a visual, predictive, and interactive platform, all underpinned by its AI-powered Copilot product.

Through Copilot’s recommendations, production planners are presented with a series of automation suggestions as well as a visualisation of how even the slightest change in the workflow will affect the entire planning and production process. Collectively, Plaio aims to help producers increase manufacturing and financial efficiency, reduce waste, and minimise stockouts of end products and raw materials.

“Plaio provides the accuracy, predictability, transparency and precision forecasting missing from the current demand, manufacturing and purchase planning processes, which, until now, were shockingly manual and spreadsheet-driven, and marred by inefficiencies and human error,” explained Guðbjargarson. “Having our R&D validated with strategic pharmaceutical manufacturing partners over the last 2 years has underscored the urgent need for modernisation across the pharmaceutical supply chain.”

Plaio’s €2 million pre-Series A round was provided by Frumtak Ventures.

“Plaio’s deep knowledge of pharma supply chain and the cost sensitivities within the generic pharma industry will be invaluable to the digitisation and modernisation of the pharmaceutical industry,” commented Frumtak Ventures’ Svana Gunnarsdóttir. “The team’s early success in providing much-needed planning visibility and transparency to pharma manufacturers has the potential to help ensure the right products get to the right places at the right time in the most cost-efficient and sustainable ways possible.”