Warsaw Equity Group and Cezary Smorszczewski invest in 3Soft and the Occubee platform

Warsaw Equity Group (WEG) and Cezary Smorszczewski have invested in 3Soft, a Katowice-based software house that provides artificial intelligence, data management and business process automation solutions. 3Soft is also developing the Occubee platform, which is used to forecast demand and sales in retail and to automate key processes in the supply chain. The total investment amounts to PLN 20 million.

3Soft has developed IT systems for 20 years. The company specializes in providing solutions for clients in the financial, retail and industrial sectors. In its projects it uses advanced technologies in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Data Management and Business Automation.

Occubee – 3Soft’s original solution – is a demand and sales forecasting platform. It offers business modules for managing the logistics processes in the retail industry. The Replenishment module provides short-term sales forecasts for offline and online channels, determines store demands and allows automatic generation of picking orders. The Demand Management module provides medium- and long-term demand forecasts for selected markets or sales channels. Based on them, it determines the demand of a given store for specific goods or product groups. As a result, the system automatically generates orders for suppliers, as well as production plans.

Funds from this round will be used primarily to strengthen Occubee’s market position. The platform’s growth strategy involves intensifying sales efforts in CEE and Latin America. One of the countries where the company already has customers is Mexico, where its sales team is on the ground.

Direction: automation

The investment in 3Soft and the Occubee platform fits perfectly with Warsaw Equity Group’s investment strategy. “The company is developing IT services and a technologically advanced product focused on automation of logistics processes. In addition to sustainability, projects that support automation and improve business efficiency are our main investment area.” – says Przemyslaw Danowski, Managing Partner of WEG.

The basic element of any investment is people. In 3Soft and Occubee, we have met a team of very experienced entrepreneurs who want to keep growing and are open to solutions that escape standard definitions. We are counting on the funds from the current round to support commercialization. We are keen for Occubee to intensively develop sales in emerging markets like LATAM and CEE, where adoption of such solutions is still relatively low.

– Przemyslaw Danowski adds.

Technologies support sales

The retail market is moving increasingly toward automation and digitization of processes. According to BDO Research’s 2021 survey, 48 percent of retailers have digitized their supply chain, and 43 percent intend to do so in the coming year. The Occubee platform addresses the retail industry’s challenges while responding to the need for process optimization. According to McKinsey Digital, demand forecasting based on AI models can reduce lost sales due to inventory shortages by 65 percent and reduce warehousing costs by 10-40 percent.

Occubee already supports our customers’ business processes in a real way. The use of Big Data technologies, artificial intelligence algorithms and machine learning allows retailers to build competitive advantage, reduce costs and increase sales, in a relatively short time after system implementation. Offered in a SaaS model and based on the cloud, the platform is scalable, making our offering attractive to smaller and larger retailers and manufacturers. In addition, we will continue to update Occubee with new features and modules. We have been close to the business since we started working on the platform and we have been listening to our customers’ needs. Further development of Occubee will be guided by our careful considerations and years of experience and, most importantly, it will address the expectations coming directly from the market.

– explains Michał Koziara, Chief Executive Officer of 3Soft.

Investment in business and people

3Soft has completed more than 200 projects for dozens of clients over nearly 20 years of market presence. Today, the international team is 100-strong and continues to grow.

The conclusion of the investment agreement with WEG and Cezary Smorszczewski is another milestone in the history of our company. On the one hand, it proves the effectiveness of our actions to date, and on the other, it opens a new chapter for both our business branches – Occubee and the software house.

– says Kamil Folkert, Ph.D., Chief Strategy Officer of 3Soft.

For us, cooperation with the investors means, in addition to acquiring funds, the opportunity to join the WEG community, and thus to exchange experience and know-how, to learn from good practices, and to gain more competencies. We are convinced that together we will create a new quality

– Kamil Folkert adds.

Cezary Smorszczewski, one of the investors, is a manager and investor with many years of experience. He is the former CEO and Managing Partner of MCI Capital s.a., the founder and former CEO of the fintech fund Corviglia.  Before becoming Vice President of the Management Board of Bank Pekao S.A. and Vice President of the Management Board of PKN ORLEN, he gained experience at PGNiG and other companies. He is the co-creator and founder of Alior Bank, where he also served as Vice President of the Management Board. He later started his own consulting business in the financial services and M&A sector. He is involved in investments, mainly in companies in the FinTech market and the so-called digital economy.

Looking at the success of Cezary Smorszczewski’s investments to date, we believe that his involvement in 3Soft and the Occubee platform is not only a financial value for us, but also an important message for the market giving credence to our company’s long-term strategy.

– says Kamil Folkert.

Having been a participant in the investment market in Poland and abroad for many years, I have had the chance to watch the development of many projects, especially in the fintech area.  As is now widely known “data is new money”, and effective data management is currently the most valuable currency in the market, hence my presence and involvement in this market sector. 3Soft meets all the conditions to become a leading market player in the future on a global scale as well.

– says Cezary Smorszczewski, a party to the transaction.