Jaggaer acquires Ivoflow to check supplier price rises against live market data

Jaggaer has completed its acquisition of Ivoflow, a Koblenz-based platform that works out what a manufactured part should cost as commodity prices and currencies move, and tells buyers whether a supplier’s price is fair. The deal closed on 11 September. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The deal takes Jaggaer, which has been building procurement software since 1995, into the part of a manufacturer’s cost base that is hardest to scrutinise. Direct materials are the raw materials, parts and components that go into finished goods. According to the companies, they typically make up 50% to 70% of cost of goods sold at complex manufacturers. Fewer than 2% of those manufacturers run a purpose-built spend and price intelligence capability for the category, and most still compare supplier prices by hand in spreadsheets.

“Ivoflow will enable buyers to manage more of their direct materials within a single platform, bringing powerful market and cost intelligence into supplier negotiations. This means more transparent, fact-based conversations with suppliers, stronger partnerships, and better commercial outcomes. We see real opportunity to invest in the team, expand the platform, and accelerate what we can deliver together,” said Andrew Roszko, Chief Executive Officer of Jaggaer.

Unchecked supplier price rises quietly erode manufacturers’ margins

The business case starts with a routine moment in any purchasing department. Suppliers regularly ask to raise prices, citing higher costs for steel, plastics or other inputs. Checking each claim takes so much manual effort that many requests are approved without a proper review. Unjustified increases then sit in the cost base and compound across thousands of part numbers.

Ivoflow uses AI to automate that check. The software reads a supplier’s request, splits the cost into its drivers (raw materials, currency and labour) and compares each one against market data to show how much of the increase holds up. In one example the companies cited, a supplier asked for a 6% rise, and only 1.3% was justified once it was measured against actual cost drivers. The same engine also scans a company’s full spend on its own, flagging categories where prices have drifted away from the market before any supplier asks for a rise.

Two former ZF colleagues built the tool they wanted as buyers

Ivoflow’s co-founders, Daniel Demuth and Nicolas Neubauer, met about a decade ago at the German automotive supplier ZF Friedrichshafen and started the company in 2020. The platform connects a manufacturer’s ERP and procurement data with commodity indices, currency movements and cost data. As conditions change, it recalculates what each individual part should cost. It serves 17 enterprise manufacturers, including Georg Fischer, Sumitomo, Grammer, TI Automotive and ZF Lifetec, and tracks €77.6M in savings under management.

“We built Ivoflow to help manufacturing companies become leaders in cost excellence and drive profitability. Joining Jaggaer gives us the reach and platform to bring that capability to many more customers and accelerate what we set out to build,” said Neubauer. He added, “We are very much looking forward to what lies ahead and to becoming part of the Jaggaer team.”

Both co-founders will keep leading the Ivoflow team, which has joined Jaggaer. Jaggaer said it will invest in the team, the product and the roadmap, including AI-driven scenario modelling, savings-probability generation and proactive procurement guidance. Ivoflow has been listed in the ProcureTech 100 in 2023, 2024 and 2025/26, named to SpendMatters’ Future 5, and given The Hackett Group’s 2026 Customer Value recognition.

The price check moves into the system where buyers already work

Jaggaer argues that the two companies solve two halves of the same problem. Its software runs the whole buying process, from supplier selection and sourcing to contract negotiation and invoice payment. Its customers include manufacturers, hospitals, universities and government agencies. Ivoflow answers whether the price on the table is fair. Together, a buyer can test a quote inside the system they already use to manage the purchase, without opening a separate analytics tool.

The second argument is about data. Ivoflow’s benchmarks are only as good as the prices behind them. Jaggaer holds purchasing and supplier records across its customer base, which could give the model a larger and more current set of real-world prices to check against.

“Jaggaer gives us the opportunity to help shape the future of how manufacturing enterprises manage their spend and identify savings. By combining Ivoflow’s capabilities with Jaggaer’s team, reach and platform, we can accelerate our roadmap, expand our AI capabilities, and build toward becoming the leading provider of spend and price intelligence for manufacturers globally,” said Demuth.

Procurement AI will be judged by the negotiations it changes

For the wider procurement software market, the deal signals where the big platform vendors now expect to compete. Spend analytics has mostly looked backwards, telling organisations what they bought and from whom. The questions Jaggaer now wants its platform to answer look ahead and carry commercial weight. Where is a company paying more than market conditions justify? Which suppliers and categories hold the largest savings? What evidence should a buyer bring to the next negotiation? This is where AI can show a measurable return. For a manufacturer whose direct materials make up most of its cost of goods sold, each percentage point cut from a supplier’s price rise goes straight to margin.

The deal also puts pressure on specialist vendors. Should-cost and price intelligence has largely belonged to focused players like Ivoflow. As the big platform vendors buy them up, the remaining standalone tools will find it harder to sell to customers who want that intelligence inside the software they already use. Suppliers face a more direct consequence. A price rise request backed by general references to steel or resin costs is now more likely to meet a line-by-line breakdown of what the market actually supports.

The open question is execution. Ivoflow’s 17 customers are a concentrated, deeply engaged group, mostly in manufacturing, while Jaggaer serves a much broader mix of sectors. Part-level cost modelling depends on clean ERP data and detailed bills of materials. Whether it works across that wider base will decide if the deal changes how suppliers and buyers negotiate across the market, or stays a premium feature for the most sophisticated manufacturing buyers.