Atlanta, Georgia-based Verusen, a startup leveraging AI to build a connected supply chain, today raised $8 million in a series A round co-led by Forte Ventures and Flyover Capital. The company says it will put the funds toward R&D as it expands the size of its workforce.

A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers report anticipated that companies would have to address the implications of their supply chains in regions affected by the coronavirus. For instance, they might have to secure future air transportation as supply and capacity become available or buy ahead to procure much-needed inventory and raw materials.

Verusen aims to address this using AI-based technology that automatically integrates with enterprise resource management systems and learns from experts who can fine-tune the system for automatic inventory naming, categorization, and deduplication. Verusen says its AI continues to predict and learn from real actions over time. Moreover, it offers suggestions to optimize inventory allocation and procurement that customers can choose to accept or decline.

Verusen claims it helps businesses save an average of $10 million within a three-month period, with clients including Georgia Pacific, Graphic Packaging, and AB InBev. “As supply chains start on their digital transformations, we help them better understand their disparate and incomplete data and connect it to trusted business outcomes from the very start,” founder and CEO Paul Noble said in a statement.

Gartner says that by 2023 at least 50% of large global companies will be using AI, advanced analytics, and internet of things technologies in supply chain operations. Meanwhile, McKinsey & Company estimates companies that “aggressively” digitize their supply chains can expect to boost annual interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) growth by 3.2% and annual revenue growth by 2.3%.

“Verusen AI is purpose-built to deliver trusted material records and verify demand signals which influence one another to drive our proprietary trusted network optimization,” Noble continued. “This leads to unparalleled scalable inventory and procurement intelligence, helping our customers achieve their material truth.”

BMW i Ventures, Glasswing Ventures, Zetta Venture Partners, Kubera VC, and Engage also participated in Verusen’s funding round announced today. It brings the company’s total raised to over $14 million, following seed and pre-seed rounds totaling $6.1 million.