HighJump acquires U.K firm Wesupply to strengthen European omnichannel fulfillment position

Supply chain software provider HighJump Software Inc., moving to expand its foothold in European omnichannel fulfillment, said today it acquired Wesupply Ltd., a U.K.-based firm that builds cloud-based business-to-business (B2B) integration solutions.

Based in Coventry, Wesupply offers an electronic trading platform that is based on the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model and helps connect trading partners. Wesupply focuses on the retail, building, consumer packaged goods (CPG), energy, and manufacturing sectors.

Minneapolis-based HighJump plans to use the acquisition to bolster its omnichannel enablement product line by supporting more-efficient information exchange between suppliers and retailers, CEO Michael Cornell said in a release.

The deal marks another strategic move for HighJump, which itself was acquired by the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based logistics IT provider Accellos Inc. in July 2014. In May, HighJump—which kept its name after the Accellos deal—acquired cloud-based technology provider Nexternal Solutions of Carlsbad, Calif., in a move to unify its e-commerce and warehouse management system (WMS) platforms.

With this latest move, HighJump seeks to continue that trend by expanding the global network of "HighJump TrueCommerce," its platform for electronic data interchange (EDI). That system is designed to allow trading partners to trade digital supply chain data directly through computer connections. Supply chain partners can improve the speed, accuracy, and cost of exchanging documents such as purchase orders and invoices through digital handshakes instead of manual data entry, the companies say.

Automated data exchange works best through large, comprehensive networks, and the acquisition extends the reach of TrueCommerce to more than 10,000 trading partners, the companies said. New additions include the U.K. grocer Sainsbury's and builders' merchant Saint-Gobain, both of which subscribe to Wesupply for its applications covering B2B message tracking, order fulfillment, and invoice processing.

In turn, Wesupply plans to leverage its new resources to expand into additional new markets across Europe. The company is signing up companies that want to outsource their electronic business-to-business integration processes through a cloud-based model, the companies said.