A global supply chain technology company is expanding its Atlanta footprint after reaching a $500 million valuation.
Blume Global, based in Pleasanton, California, provides a cloud platform to help global logistics companies work more efficiently and reduce economic waste and carbon dioxide emissions. The company has 450 employees across San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Hong Kong, Bengalore and Europe.
At its 2018 launch, Blume Global had 90 employees.
Company CEO Pervinder Johar sees a steep trajectory for hiring — 600 by the end of this year and then 2,000 by the end of next year.
Atlanta has about 25 employees, all hired during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company is currently looking for office space and expects to start in-person work in 2022. There are currently 17 Atlanta job openings on its website.
The Covid-19 shutdowns, which led to a dramatic increase in e-commerce sales, highlighted the strengths of Georgia’s logistics industry and created a renaissance of supply chain technology companies in Atlanta. Local darling Stord Inc. just reached a $1 billion valuation to expand its management software and physical logistics network, and logistics payment platform RoadSync is moving into a new, Midtown headquarters.
Blume Global’s Atlanta expansion comes in part because of the city’s reputation in logistics, supply chain and technology. Its massive airport and proximity to the port of Savannah, the fastest-growing container port in North America, makes it a prime stop for international supply chain companies. Two of Blume Global’s customers also relocated to Atlanta in the past couple of years. The talent coming from the university system is top tier. But Johar also has a personal connection to the city.
For almost a decade, he worked as the chief technology officer and executive vice president at Manhattan Associates Inc. (Nasdaq: MANH), a supply chain software company that relocated from the West Coast to Atlanta in the 1990s and created an alumni network of startup founders and tech executives.
Johar expects to recruit new Atlanta employees from universities through internships and campus hiring initiatives. About 80% of their employees are engineers focused on research and development. Johar says the company is specifically interested in graduates focused on data science and artificial intelligence.
“We are building a platform for the next 50 years,” Johar said. “There hasn’t been a lot of innovation in this space. No one has really tackled the complex problems, so that’s what we’re doing.”
