Chicago-based Otrafy will soon pack its bags and relocate to Buffalo, New York after it was selected as one of five winners of 43North’s annual startup competition.
43North is an accelerator program founded in 2014 that brings a wide collection of startups to the Buffalo area to grow the local tech scene and support the community. Besides helping early-stage startups, the program also has a network of over 900 investors that can fuel further growth.
Every year 43North hosts a startup competition that awards five startups with a $1 million investment. Artificial intelligence supply chain platform Otrafy was selected as one of the winners this year. The startup received a $1 million investment prize along with a one-year residence at the 43North incubator.
Otrafy will move into the Seneca One Tower, a 40-story skyscraper in Buffalo, where it will continue to expand and develop its product over the next year.
“I congratulate the five winning companies for capturing this unique opportunity and look forward to seeing them move to Buffalo, hire staff, raise private capital and invest in property and equipment,” Buffalo Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement.
Founded in 2018, Otrafy developed an AI platform that streamlines the supply chain for customers and ensures food suppliers adhere to regulations. With the platform, customers buying from food suppliers have full visibility over their current orders and have all necessary documents on one platform. The Otrafy platform also enables customers to update contracts and documents, with changes accepted or rejected on the platform.
Prior to the $1 million grant, Otrafy has closed several non-equity rounds and a pre-seed round, according to Crunchbase.
“Our team is super excited about Buffalo. 43North is an impressive institution with a unique portfolio of startups,” Otrafy wrote in a LinkedIn post.
