Each year, some of the solution providers named on the 50 To Watch list (i.e., relatively new providers to the market that we believe are pushing procurement’s boundaries with the most innovative solutions) make the leap to the 50 To Know list (those we consider leading providers that continue to raise the bar for procurement technologies and services, and which every CPO should have on their radar).
This year a few providers made that leap by pushing themselves beyond simply a standout performance. They have earned the recognition that they are not only bringing innovation into procurement organizations but also leading the charge to change the way we do business for the better.
Congratulations to Graphite Connect
Graphite Connect is a supplier management solution which enables suppliers to enter and maintain their information once and share it with multiple buyers within a network that can use it as a golden record. You can learn more in our Vendor Analysis.
To learn what strategies or product enhancements the provider has implemented over the past year to effect the transition from watch to know and what the road ahead looks like, we talked to Conrad Smith, CEO and Co-Founder of Graphite Connect.
What have been the biggest changes to your organization and offering in the past 12 months that have effected this leap?
“We’ve seen the Graphite Supplier Network grow rapidly in the last 12 months, through organic growth and expansion into core industries (manufacturing, media & telecom, life sciences and consumer goods) — so now we have over 700,000 suppliers and over 1 million supplier updates happening every single month. What’s so compelling about that last number is that our network is truly a network, not a database. So when a supplier connected to 12 companies updates data in their profile, it is shared with all of those connected companies, triggering things like risk remediation plans, performance reviews or alerts to the internal teams working with that supplier. Network suppliers now onboard in 1-3 days, sometimes less than 24 hours, because their data is already vetted, verified and visible within Graphite.”
What are the top-most features, capabilities or functionality that make you stand out from the competition?
“The Graphite Supplier Network is changing the game for procurement teams — but the engine that powers it is our world-class Know Your Supplier security waterfall. In our Trust Center for every supplier, you can see every validated and verified piece of supplier data, who supplied the data and what security checks they passed or failed. In 2025, we caught over 5,000 potential fraud attempts across our customer base, and zero successful fraud attempts. Vendor fraud continues to be a high-stakes concern for Fortune 500 companies, especially in the era of global volatility and constantly changing tariffs where dual- and multi-sourcing is introducing new risk to the supply chain. Being able to onboard quickly with confidence is more critical than ever before.”
How do you see procurement changing over the next few years (specifically in the era of AI)?
“Efficiency continues to be top of mind for procurement leaders, but the biggest change we see right now is leveraging AI to help you be more agile as a procurement team. We’re seeing more and more of the leaders in the space shirk vendors that are building AI agents and opting for a “bring your own AI” strategy that can assist with security as well as efficiency. Core to this approach, however, is a vendor master you can trust. Data quality continues to plague every procurement team we speak with, and it spans industries, geographies and supply chains. Getting the most agility and efficiency out of your AI strategy means starting with that clean, trusted Golden Record that AI can take action on top of. Without trusted data, you’ll never see your AI dreams turn into reality.”
What is your roadmap or vision to meet the challenges and changes ahead?
“Later this year, Graphite will launch an MCP server on top of our data set to enable home-grown AI agents as well as purchased agents to integrate and leverage our trusted data set without the requirement for API integrations. This will be a game-changer for procurement teams that are innovating quickly with their AI approach and are seeing poor results where data quality is a core issue. Our vision is to remove the friction and trust barriers that currently hold businesses back from easily transacting with their global supplier base. As the network grows, we are seeing this vision become a reality for our customers, who onboard tens of thousands of suppliers every year.”
Learn more
Webinar
To understand more about what’s behind our 50/50 and Future 5 decision-making process, join our analyst team for a webinar on April 15 when you will also have the opportunity to understand what it takes to get under the analysts’ radar for next year’s lists.
More details about our whole lists can be found here.
To learn more about our 50/50 selection process, see our methodology.
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And as always, please reach out with any questions.
