The fourth quarter of 2023, while down broadly for VC investments, saw continued appetite for B2B distributors making technology investments. With back to back strong quarters, Q3 seeing more investments made than the previous six quarters, this indicates healthy tailwinds for B2B distributors in their technology investment activity heading into 2024.
B2B distributors have hit a new high for yoy activity, with a 150% YoY increase in the number of technology investments made, a total of five.
This cycle saw a variety of investments, with commitments in contractor CRMs, healthcare, agtech- as well as one acquisition!
Here are the distributors with tech investments or M&A this past quarter:
Graybar in Automation and Industrial
Superseed Ventures (Reece) in Construction
Cencora (formerly Amerisource Bergen) in Healthcare
ABC Supply in Roofing
Ingram Content Group in Paper & Packaging
Breaking down the past 7 quarters by vertical, we’ve seen a healthy clip of healthcare investments by distributors who are continuing to regularly invest. Construction, Industrial and Logistics are staying the course as the second band of categories that B2B distributors are investing in technology-wise. New innovations are helping to streamline business operations in historically tech lagging sectors.Â
Want a macro look at B2B? Last week, we looked at the broader state of Distribution Tech in its totality by analyzing our proprietary Distribution Tech Index. It’s not one to be missed!Â
Let’s look at the 5 Distributor Tech Investments (and one acquisition) in detail:
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