About this episode

Dheev Arulmani discusses the challenges of sourcing chemicals and raw materials and how Valdera's approach addresses these issues.

EPISODE SUMMARY Dheev Arulmani, COO and co-founder of Valdera, joins James to unpack one of procurement tech's most underserved areas: chemicals and raw materials sourcing. He explains why this $6 trillion, hyper-fragmented category breaks generic source-to-pay suites, and how Valdera's verticalised, AI-native approach handles infinite spec permutations, regulation and supplier data. Essential listening for direct materials buyers and anyone weighing up whether to choose a horizontal suite over a specialist platform. GUEST BIO Dheev Arulmani is co-founder and COO of Valdera, the AI-native sourcing platform for chemicals and raw materials he launched in 2021 with his sister Sruti. Previously an Engagement Manager at McKinsey in its chemicals and agriculture practice, he led supply chain and procurement transformations for large manufacturers. He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering and Economics from MIT and earlier worked in electrochemistry research and venture investing. KEY TAKEAWAYS Why chemicals can't be sourced like finished goods, infinite spec permutations demand purpose-built data infrastructure How verticalised platforms beat one-size-fits-all suites for complex…

People in this episode

Host: James Meads

Guest: Dheev Arulmani

Topics covered

• chemicals sourcing
• raw materials
• procurement technology
• source-to-pay suites
• AI-native platforms
• supply chain
• direct materials

Keywords

• chemicals
• raw materials
• sourcing
• procurement
• AI-native
• supply chain
• source-to-pay
• verticalised platforms
• spec permutations
• direct materials buyers

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Valdera, McKinsey

Places: MIT

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