ePlane, an advanced, AI-driven, B2B sourcing and business intelligence platform for the aerospace parts and repair markets, has announced the investment led by major Japanese trading and investing company, Marubeni Corporation, and current investors totalling $9 million.
ePlane is changing the way companies in the aerospace industry are conducting business. The revolutionary online platform enables users to trade aircraft parts, locate repair services, and improve supply chain bottlenecks and the cost structure of its users. The aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) market is impressive. With an $80 billion global MRO market and an expected growth to $116 billion by 2029, the industry is ready for more efficient, modern, and effective methods to improve the way it transacts.
By bringing efficiency to the MRO industry, ePlane has catapulted it into the 21st century, providing centralized sourcing, BI, and a marketplace for buying, selling, repairing, loaning, and exchanging aircraft parts. The platform digitizes the procurement process, syncing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and custom inventories, to ensure that inventories are most up to date in real time.
The platform’s unique Autopilot feature utilizes an AI algorithm to match buyers and sellers based on needs, available inventory, past transactions, and required timeframe, even automatically sending Requests for Quotes (RFQs) to appropriate sellers. This enhanced automation tool eliminates the need to send each request manually, significantly saving on time and labor.
Founded in 2016 and launched into full service in 2018, ePlane already receives over $50m in monthly demands from over 4,000 major companies in the Aerospace industry. Each of the network’s 6,000 end users are screened and verified to ensure a safe and reliable buying experience. The proper documentation and serial number for each part are also provided in the listing to ensure the highest quality of every purchase.
Marubeni sees ePlane as the most innovative company in the aerospace industry, recognizing their ongoing organic growth. The projected growth of the Aerospace industry over the next years is rapidly increasing, and the need to bring new technologies and methods to the market is critical. Marubeni strongly believes ePlane is the future of the industry.
“We are delighted to see Marubeni joining us and see this partnership as an important one to the ongoing growth and success of ePlane. This is a strategic step,” said Benny Shabtai, one of ePlane’s initial investors and board members who previously sold mobile instant-messaging, voice and video calling app, Viber, to Japanese tech giant Rakuten.
ePlane is building a leading edge B2B company that brings immediate benefits to the Aerospace community by delivering the industry the tools and insights to make fast and efficient decisions and manage the growing demands of the next decade. The platform fosters intelligence tools for companies that will allow them to become smarter. Digitization is a must for operations at this scale, and those who don’t embrace the digital transformation will not be able to provide the required level of service in this new tech-fueled climate. Marubeni is committed to innovation and the investment in ePlane will ensure objectives are met.
