Latest news with #OPUS
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
AI-built startups could fuel increase in venture capital ‘zombie' funds
Beware of zombies. That's the message from some venture capital executives who predict that AI will drive down the cost and time startup founders need to build businesses—but also increase the number of 'zombies.' These are VCs firms who find little demand for their services, and are left to wander the tech landscape without fresh capital or new investments. Due to AI, founders will become so efficient building companies that they will no longer need to raise multiple rounds of capital, says Sam Tidswell-Norrish, who, in December, left private equity firm Motive Partners, and has since launched professional community platform OPUS. Tidswell-Norrish predicts that, over the next five years, founders will likely collect enough capital in one round and then achieve profitability. This means VCs will end up competing with each other for fewer allocations and will have to go downstream to find companies, he said. Ben Savage, a partner at Clocktower Ventures, doesn't agree. Savage thinks AI will likely spur more ideas that cause founders to create more startups and possibly reinvent more segments of the economy. Matt Harris, a partner with Bain Capital Ventures, pointed to the cloud computing and SaaS boom of the last decade, which some thought would hurt VCs. Harris thinks the current AI revolution could lead to more VC allocations. For venture capitalists, AI could threaten their position or provide an opportunity, said OPUS's Tidswell-Norrish. Many firms raised capital, and were investing, during the bull market of 2021 when startup valuations were at a high. Venture funds often take years to sell their stakes, so firms could build their profile and raise multiple funds before having to return capital, he said. The venture industry is currently in a downturn with only the top tier and differentiated funds continuing to raise money, he said. There are already a number of VC firms that aren't investing further and just running 'their existing fund lifespans down passively,' Tidswell-Norrish said. OPUS's Tidswell-Norrish thinks AI will create a power shift in favor of the founders, who will need less capital. He expects many VC firms will consolidate or just collapse over the next decade. Because the firms have funds with a 10-year life cycle, many will 'take a long time to die,' he said. The number of U.S. zombie venture firms has increased. At the beginning of 2025, there were 574 U.S. zombies, or firms that have raised a fund in the prior six years but have no known investments since late December 2023, according to data from research firm PitchBook. This compares to the end of 2021 when there were 382 U.S. zombies that had raised a fund since 2016 but had no known investments since the end of 2020. Many of the VCs who spoke to Fortune agree there will be a weeding out of the venture capital sector but it's not necessarily because of AI. The IPO market has been shut for nearly four years while mergers have crawled, making it hard for venture funds to sell their deals. Funds that started in 2020, invested in 2021— a record time period for deals when companies were selling for high multiples—and still don't have liquidity in 2025, will have a hard time raising a second pool in 2026 and 2027, said Peter Walker, head of insights at equity management platform Carta. 'A lot of funds don't have great performance metrics right now. If your last fund didn't do very well, it's a much tougher climate to raise new funds,' he said. Clocktower's Savage said there are always 'over performing and underperforming' venture firms but it's still too early to determine the impact of 2021 investing on fund performance. 'There's a lot of different forces at play in the capital formation of venture capital firms,' Savage said. Firms that survive will be VCs with a 'differentiated means to create value,' said OPUS's Tidswell-Norrish. This is more than the typical VC strategy of just providing capital but offering unique strategies, or expertise or networks that a founder can use to boost their startup's growth or chance for success. 'Ninety percent of VCs do not have real capability beyond their team supporting,' he said. The lack of distribution is one reason why Tidswell-Norrish launched OPUS, which aims to provide networking connections for early-stage entrepreneurs and founders. In 2026, OPUS is expected to begin marketing for its first fund, which is targeting $20 million to $40 million, a person familiar with the situation said. 'It's a huge existential shift. We will see a reckoning,' Tidswell-Norrish added. This story was originally featured on
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
AI-scaled startups are poised to disrupt venture capital—but VCs say don't count them out just yet
Venture capital is about disrupting established business models, but lately it is VCs themselves who are facing disruption. The reason is AI, which is driving down the time and cost to build a startup, and has led some to predict a major shakeout is coming for venture capital firms. Ten years ago, entrepreneurs looking to build a dating app would have needed millions of dollars, and years of development before they could launch the business, said Sam Tidswell-Norrish, a senior founding member of Motive Partners, who left the private equity firm in December. He says that, today, those same founders can get on a Zoom call with their team and build the app out by the end of the day. 'Capital intensive businesses don't exist anymore,' said Tidswell-Norrish, who has launched OPUS, a professional community platform. Ben Savage, a partner at Clocktower Ventures, agrees AI is changing the VC industry. 'Companies are getting to scale in product and revenue with much smaller headcounts than we've seen before,' Savage said. 'For sure, there's going to be more efficient companies built.' Jay Reinemann, general partner of Propel Venture Partners, agrees that AI will make building a startup more efficient, although he thinks building an app in 'less than a day' is an overstatement, and might only be true for very simple business models. 'We see AI-powered seed stage founders building faster and getting to product market fit quicker,' Reinemann said. This AI-induced efficiency means companies will no longer need to raise multiple rounds of capital, said Tidswell-Norrish of OPUS. Instead, over the next five years, founders will likely collect enough capital in one round and then achieve profitability, he said. This means VCs will end up competing with each other for fewer allocations and will have to go downstream to find companies, Tidswell-Norrish said. 'Getting to the companies earlier will be more important. VCs will have to start playing in the pre-seed and seed space,' he said. These changes are poised to make the venture capital world more competitive but, in a twist of the old Mark Twain quote, reports of venture capital's death may be greatly exaggerated. Clocktower's Savage, for instance, thinks AI will likely spur more ideas that cause founders to create more startups and possibly reinvent more segments of the economy. These businesses will need more capital, which will come from VCs, Savage said. 'Venture capital is the rocket fuel for innovation,' Savage said. 'The U.S. tech industry, funded by venture capital, is the greatest source of innovation in human history.' Matt Harris, a partner with Bain Capital Ventures, also doesn't think the AI revolution will lead to fewer VC allocations. He pointed to the huge fundraising rounds of AI companies, which are now a majority of the venture asset class. In April, OpenAI raised $40 billion at a $300 billion valuation, while Anthropic the month before collected $3.5 billion at a $61.5 billion valuation. 'The trend is in the other direction,' Harris said. Predictions of venture's demise due to AI are 'nonsense,' Harris said. He saw a similar trend occur over a decade ago when the advent of cloud computing and SaaS helped founders develop companies more cheaply and easily. Some believed this would hurt VCs. 'Instead, it led to the SaaS boom,' Harris said. More than 9,000 SaaS companies were started between 2010 and 2017, considered the core Saas boom years, according to Exploding Topics. AI should make it easier for founders to build and copy products, which will lead to lots of competition because 'tons of companies will be doing the same thing,' said Peter Walker, head of insights at equity management platform Carta. Startups will need capital to spend on distribution, including marketing and advertising so they can stand out, Walker said. 'We don't hear from too many VCs worrying that AI will ruin venture capital,' he said. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Cision Canada
27-05-2025
- Business
- Cision Canada
Digital Supply Chain Transformation Accelerates in Life Sciences as New Partners Join the TraceLink OPUS Partner Program
BOSTON, May 27, 2025 /CNW/ -- TraceLink, the largest end-to-end digital network platform for intelligent orchestration of the supply chain, announced significant momentum in its OPUS Partner Program, which has grown by 35% since April 2024. This growth reflects surging demand across life sciences for digital supply chain transformation—and trusted partners who can operationalize these advanced solutions to maximize ROI and drive long-term value. Digital Transformation, Powered by Partners Partners now account for more than 50% of all new business, up from 25% in 2024. The majority of new MINT (Multienterprise Information Network Tower) engagements will include a designated partner, reflecting TraceLink's commitment to delivering deeper, faster value to customers. This partner-first approach ensures that customers are supported by specialized experts who guide strategic supply chain design, operationalize change management, and help rearchitect and support supply chain IT landscapes to meet evolving demands. Underpinning this growth is TraceLink's Orchestration Platform for Universal Solutions (OPUS), which equips partners with no-code configuration capabilities to rapidly create and deploy tailored solutions. Combined with TraceLink's global B2N Integrate-Once™ network of 291,000+ verified entities, partners can expand services, accelerate implementations, and empower customers with greater supply chain agility and resilience. "Partnering with TraceLink has been instrumental in helping us deliver cutting-edge supply chain solutions to our customers," said Peter Bigelow, CEO, SCmple. "This partnership not only improves our ability to drive digital transformation but also empowers our customers with the agility and operational excellence needed to navigate today's complex supply chain landscape." New Solution and Technology Partners Strengthen TraceLink's Growing Ecosystem TraceLink continues to build a robust, global ecosystem by welcoming new Solution Partners and Technology Partners who share a common goal—delivering measurable outcomes for customers and accelerating digital transformation. Solution Partners provide implementation, optimization, and change management expertise, helping customers fully realize the value of their TraceLink investment. New partners include Arcolab, Clarkston Consulting, Sikich, and ZS. Technology Partners integrate their platforms with TraceLink's multienterprise supply chain network to enable seamless interoperability across ERP, WMS, IMS, and supply planning systems. New additions such as Kinaxis, SCmple, Softeon, and Slingshot Pharma strengthen the platform's orchestration capabilities. "The rapid expansion of the TraceLink OPUS Partner Program reflects the growing demand for intelligent, end-to-end supply chains," said Shabbir Dahod, President and CEO of TraceLink. "Our partners are not just supporting implementations—they're enabling innovation, driving revenue growth, synchronizing supply and demand, and helping customers rethink the architecture of their supply chains." Delivering Impact: 159 Partner-Led Deals and a 4.5x+ Services Multiplier TraceLink partners have led 159 customer engagements across MINT and track-and-trace/serialization deals, with 57 projects in the last six months alone. These engagements demonstrate the program's reach and its value creation potential. The service opportunity for partners is substantial, with the majority of customers seeking a Solution Partner, and the services multiplier averages 4.5x, with many engagements reaching 10x or higher. Partners help customers move beyond the foundational digitalization capabilities to unlock sustained value through orchestration and data-driven supply chain operations. Introducing OPUS Link Lab: Accelerating Partner Innovation To accelerate partner-led innovation, TraceLink is launching OPUS Link Lab (OLL), a secure, pre-production sandbox environment where Solution and Technology Partners can use no-code tools to design, test, and validate new multienterprise solutions, reports, dashboards, and integrations. With preloaded access to base solutions like MINT, OLL enables rapid prototyping, system interoperability testing, and hands-on platform training. Launching in June 2025 through a phased early access program, OLL will also serve as the launchpad to the upcoming OPUS Marketplace, where validated partner solutions can be listed and commercialized across TraceLink's global customer and partner network. Sign up for early access to OLL. Unlocking Opportunities at FutureLink Barcelona At FutureLink Barcelona 2025, TraceLink's premier industry event, partners and customers alike will explore how to harness the power of OPUS and MINT to orchestrate next-generation supply chains. With 60+ sessions, workshops, and immersive experiences, Solution and Technology Partners will gain first-hand insight into the platform's newest capabilities—and how to help their clients accelerate transformation, improve compliance, and build more resilient supply networks. Join the Future of the Global, Digital Life Sciences Supply Chain The TraceLink OPUS Partner Program empowers partners with industry-leading tools, training, and business opportunities. For customers, it ensures that every implementation is supported by a knowledgeable ecosystem of experts who help deliver faster time to value. Learn more about the TraceLink OPUS Partner Program and register for FutureLink Barcelona today. About TraceLink TraceLink Inc. is the largest end-to-end intelligent supply chain platform for life sciences and healthcare, enabling orchestration through a globally connected digital network of more than 291,000 entities. Businesses rely on TraceLink to ensure complete supply chain visibility, product traceability, and secure medicine delivery—driving better health outcomes for every patient, everywhere.
CTV News
27-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Montreal users will be able to test validating transit fares with their phones this summer
Montreal public transit users might be able to board the bus or Metro with just a tap of their smartphone later this year. The regional transit authority confirmed that it is testing the new functionality beginning this summer with a small sample of users in the Greater Montreal area. Under the 'alpha' version of the test phase, first reported by La Presse on Monday, users would be able to load their transit tickets or OPUS cards directly onto their smartphones and then scan the phone over a reader using near-field communication (NFC) technology when passing through the turnstiles. Testing will be done in waves, with the number of testers increasing gradually, Simon Boiteau, a spokesperson for the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM), wrote in an email to CTV News. 'The aim is to obtain feedback from users with a variety of mobile devices and, if necessary, make the necessary adjustments to the beta version,' Boiteau added. Depending on how well the testing goes this summer, the feature could be rolled out on a gradual basis to the rest of customers by the end of Fall 2025. The ability to pay for a fare directly with a smartphone or a bank card is scheduled to launch in 2026. Since April 2024, transit users have been able to load fares onto their OPUS cards, also via NFC, by using the Chrono mobile app for iOS and Android devices.
Cision Canada
15-05-2025
- Business
- Cision Canada
CIT Srl Charts a Visionary Path in Supply Chain Digitalization with TraceLink's Multienterprise Information Network Tower (MINT)
BOSTON, May 15, 2025 /CNW/ -- TraceLink, the largest end-to-end digital network platform for intelligent supply chain orchestration, today announced that CIT Srl, a rapidly growing contract packaging organization (CPO) based in the European Union, has selected TraceLink's Multienterprise Information Network Tower (MINT). Recognizing the pharmaceutical industry's accelerating shift toward digitalization—and driven by ambitious goals to significantly increase revenue and expand into the biotech and advanced therapy markets—CIT Srl is proactively transforming its operations through MINT, building a fully digitalized, future-proofed, and scalable supply chain. "As a fast-growing CPO, we're committed to operating with the agility and transparency that the next generation of pharma and biotech companies demands," said Alberto Bartolini, CEO of CIT Srl. "MINT gives us the platform we need to automate the exchange of business transactions with any partner system, streamline operations, and deliver a higher level of service to both our customers and suppliers—without increasing operational overhead—while fueling continued revenue growth and enabling expansion into new markets." Developed on OPUS, the Orchestration Platform for Universal Solutions, MINT will empower CIT Srl to achieve higher levels of collaboration and operational efficiency, enrich inventory visibility and forecasting with real-time data, and deliver the revenue predictability that fuels sustainable growth and corporate profitability. With MINT, CIT Srl will unlock a range of strategic benefits that directly support its business success and market expansion goals: Optimize Inventory and Boost Production Readiness By gaining immediate insight into demand and materials availability, CIT Srl can better align inventory levels with actual customer needs, reducing working capital and warehousing costs while ensuring packaging materials arrive on time to avoid production delays and capacity constraints. Drive Operational Efficiency and Collaboration CIT Srl is streamlining forecasting, order management, and shipment tracking through automated, digital processes and centralized real-time data, aligning internal teams, customers, and suppliers around a single source of truth. Accelerate Predictable Revenue and Market Expansion Better visibility into operations, inventory, and materials management allows CIT Srl to plan with greater confidence, serve more clients, and expand into the biotech and advanced therapy markets—ultimately driving higher revenue and scaling its business without increasing headcount. "CIT Srl's innovative and forward-thinking leadership team recognizes where the industry is headed, and is acting now to build and maintain a competitive advantage," said Shabbir Dahod, President and CEO of TraceLink. "By adopting MINT to digitalize its supply chain with partners on an end-to-end basis, CIT Srl is paving the way for scalable growth and long-term leadership in a rapidly evolving market—one where data-driven processes, revenue performance and profitability, and patient and product safety are critical to success." About TraceLink TraceLink Inc. is the largest end-to-end intelligent supply chain platform for life sciences and healthcare, enabling end-to-end orchestration by connecting more than 291,000 healthcare and life sciences entities through its B2N Integrate-Once™ network. Leading businesses trust TraceLink to deliver complete global connectivity, visibility, and traceability of healthcare products, ensuring that every patient gets the medicines they need when needed, safely and securely. About CIT Srl With more than 30 years of sound track of records, CIT Srl is one of the most established and respected independent Contract Packagers in Europe. A lean partner combining the flexibility of a SME with performing industrial metrics you can find in large plants. SOURCE Tracelink, Inc.
