ToolsGroup Acquires Mi9 Retail’s Demand Management Business

ToolsGroup, a global leader in supply chain planning and optimization software, today announced its acquisition of Mi9 Retail’s Demand Management business. Mi9 acquired this division through its acquisition of JustEnough Software in 2018. The combination of software offerings will optimize end-to-end planning--from production to purchase--equipping modern multi-channel retailers to build highly resilient, profitable and future-proof supply chains.

Agile supply chain management remains a core mission that manufacturers, distributors and retailers must get right. Ongoing channel proliferation and relentless focus on profitability and speed to market, topped by recent major supply disruptions have made digital supply chain transformation even more crucial. Global e-commerce sales in the first quarter of 2021 rose nearly 40% year-over-year.(1) According to Gartner, nearly all retailers are planning to invest to make their supply chains more agile (96%) and resilient (90%) by 2022.(2) With the additional capabilities from Mi9’s Demand Management business, ToolsGroup is uniquely positioned to meet the market’s needs so companies can be ready for anything.

“JustEnough and its talented and passionate team in retail are a perfect complement to ToolsGroup service-driven, highly-automated supply chain planning and optimization,” said Joseph Shamir, CEO of ToolsGroup. “Together, we’re equipping retailers with a 360-degree supply chain view that is real-time, predictive and actionable. With our unique production-to-purchase planning engines and expertise, our customers can even more efficiently improve product availability and outperform the competition in managing today’s volatile demand.”

Retailers now have a powerful new arsenal of deep planning expertise to model and forecast uncertain demand, manage product life cycles and dynamically allocate inventory to raise product availability across channels. Customers commonly achieve a 15-30% reduction in inventory while improving product availability as high as 99%, and up to a 50% reduction in lost sales using ​ToolsGroup's demand forecasting software and inventory optimization software.
Manufacturing, distribution and retail customers can now plan from raw materials all the way to finished goods/point of purchase. Our modular solution architecture makes it easy for customers to select the products their businesses need and fit them together in a cohesive planning solution.

This acquisition coincides with the closing of a significant growth investment received by ToolsGroup from Accel-KKR, a leading technology-focused investment firm. Accel-KKR initially invested in ToolsGroup in 2018.

“Since our initial investment in 2018, we have enjoyed working with ToolsGroup co-founders and management,” said Joe Porten, Principal of Accel-KKR and board member of ToolsGroup. “Together, we have seen the company grow its customer base and geographic footprint, expand its executive leadership team and establish thought leadership amongst customers and peers during the challenging times brought on by the pandemic--a testament to the talent and dedication of the entire ToolsGroup team.”

Park Durrett, Managing Director of Accel-KKR and incoming ToolsGroup board member added, “Our new investment today represents a strong vote of confidence in ToolsGroup, and in the exciting opportunities that lie ahead for the company to deliver new innovation and value to our customers.”

With the acquisition of JustEnough, ToolsGroup offers a unique combination of specialized technologies as well as highly experienced support staff to help customers profitably deliver service to their own customers. The accelerated trajectory of resilient market growth and product innovation will enable ToolsGroup to offer employees more growth opportunities around the world.

Solomon Partners and Kirkland & Ellis served as advisors on the transaction.

1 Adobe Digital Economy Index
2 Gartner: Future of Supply Chain: The Retail Revolution and How to Win in 2021 and Beyond, Published 16 April 2021. Thomas O'Connor, Tom Enright