KPMG partners with Stone & Chalk to bolster supply chain solutions

KPMG Australia and Stone & Chalk Group have announced the first Future Technology Program cohort, which will support Australian startups building supply chain solutions.  

The successful startup founders and their teams will receive residency for 12 months at one of Stone & Chalk Group’s startup hubs located nationally in Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide.  

Recipients will also receive a personalised support program to help their businesses rapidly grow and scale.  

This tailored program covers investor readiness, industry insights, connections to potential clients, and mentoring on how to sell to large, global companies and more. 

“We are honoured to have been selected for the first cohort of this program, set up shop at a Stone & Chalk startup hub and work alongside KPMG, who is a leader in supply chain management consulting,” said Fenella Boyce, CEO of Versed AI, one of the program’s recipients.  

“We plan on utilising the opportunity to build Versed AI’s cutting-edge tech to better shape the future of supply chain management and procurement in Australia,” Boyce said.  

According to internal KPMG research, 75 per cent of businesses in Australia experienced significant supply chain disruptions over the past year.  

The pandemic has exposed significant opportunities for innovation to help tackle the challenges faced across the supply chain, such as limited valuable data, insufficient risk management and a fundamental lack of agility.    

“Creating more resilient, more transparent, and more sustainable supply chains is one of the most important challenges of our time,” said Sarah Vega, National Managing Partner at KPMG Futures.  

“The Future Technology Program helps us to uncover new innovative technology for our clients, who are hungry for solutions but often struggle to engage with startups in a positive and meaningful way,” Vega said. 

Future Technology Program 2022 recipients are: 

• Adiona (Richard Savoie, CEO) — Helping to move people and goods more efficiently in an increasingly urbanised world through the implementation of AI and commercial mathematics in the cloud that can offset the programs urbanisation presents.  
• Cynch (Susie Jones, CEO) — Helping small businesses prevent cybersecurity incidents by working closely alongside them, continuously profiling their business to develop strong and robust cyber fitness.  
• Givvable (Frances Atkins, Co-Founder & Director) — Helping businesses meet their sustainability and ESG targets faster through fit-for-purpose insights.  
• Versed AI (Fenella Boyce, CEO) — Award-winning Natural Language Processing technology to help organisations, of all sizes, identify the true scale of their supply chain.  
• Zondii (Danielle Morton, CEO & Founder) — Working to provide a real-time smartphone verification and validation solution for the food and fibre industry. 

“KPMG is thrilled to be bringing together this diverse cohort of exceptional entrepreneurs who are building new technology to drive real change for producers, for companies, and, importantly, for the planet,” Vega said.  

“These five startups are bringing trust, verification, transparency and efficiency to supply chains in a way that is critical to the future agenda,” she said. 

“It is also hugely encouraging that four out of five of the startups selected are led by female founders,” said Michael Bromley, CEO at Stone & Chalk Group.  

“We look forward to working hand-in-hand with KPMG to help these companies realise their ambitions, by providing access to a community that comes together to advocate and encourage one another in a way not possible anywhere else in Australia,” Bromley said.  

Future cohorts of the program will focus on startups solving problems in other sectors, with the next round slated to kick off in February 2023. 

Source: KPMG media release