Slync, a supply chain management software start-up firm that was valued at $240 million, had to go through some difficulties off-late. The Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed charges against Christopher Kirchner, the founder of the company this month for allegedly stealing $20 million from the business to pay for an opulent lifestyle that included a $16 million private Gulfstream jet, professional golf tournaments, a $495,000 luxury suite at a nearby sports arena, and unsuccessful bids for English soccer clubs. He claimed to private bankers that the $20 million represented “a distribution from my company”—a payment that Slync’s board of directors had never approved. This amount equated to 40% of the $50 million that Slync had acquired from angel investors and venture capital firms.
In the meantime, some staff of Slync had to go without pay for several months. The stealing also led to the company falling behind to pay their respective vendors. The start-up firm also had to face the loss of its chief revenue officer, chief financial officer, and chief marketing officer. Therefore, the company had to maintain a distance from Kirchner, resulting in some success. The filings of the SEC reveal that Slync acquired the funding of $24 million in January, an amalgamation of equity and debt.
Slync integrates several shipping and logistics systems, processing data to automate many monotonous tasks.
In a recent interview with a renowned publication, Kefer mentioned that Kirchner has been suspended from his position but, he refused to answer any further questions related to Kirchner. He also added that the company is aware of FBI movements related to the federal investigation into Kirchner’s personal pursuit and the company is cooperating with the authorities in it. The company looks forward to finding a resolution to this matter as it is also a victim in the situation. However, starting fresh with the new CEO of the company, John Urban, the investigation is not a priority for Slync anymore, delivering cutting-edge technologies to the global logistics sector is the primary goal of the company.
About the funding round, Kefer revealed that the funding round was led by Goldman Sachs, and despite the turmoil, it remained committed to the value theory of Slync. The company is planning to expand the team by next year. Kefer states that the additional funding will go mostly towards “increasing the breadth” of Slync’s technology beyond its present target areas of containerized freight, air freight, and speciality cargo operations.
The company had to maintain a distance from Kirchner, resulting in some success.
About the technology, Slync integrates several shipping and logistics systems, processing data to (hopefully) automate many monotonous tasks. Slync attempts to highlight important information for users by utilising a variety of data sources, including enterprise resource management systems, customer relationship management systems, transport management systems, visibility service providers, email, PDFs, and spreadsheets, and by providing collaboration tools and based-on-role workflows for sharing and communicating that information.
Large international shippers can finally abandon manual processes that continue to plague the logistics sector thanks to the digital platform offered by Slync. There is a lot of technology available, and that is part of the issue since it has led to the creation of disjointed silos of data and operational tools, according to Kefer. Yet, many startups follow suit. In 2022, the market for supply chain management software was expected to be worth $15.8 billion, according to one estimate.
