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Calculum Inc
Calculum Inc
Calculum Inc
Our media pack is available for download and contains the Calculum logos and company information. If you’d like to receive our press releases, organise an interview, and collaborate on a content piece, please contact us.
In addition to reliable flows of goods, the stability of supply chains also depends on how smoothly and seamlessly payment transactions run within them. An early-stage company with University of St. Gallen (HSG) connections has developed a tool with which companies worldwide can analyze and optimize their supplier network in regard to payment terms. It was recognized as the best startup in Florida and has already won numerous large companies as customers.
A payment default by a company within a supply chain can have far-reaching and long-lasting negative consequences.
"For example, if a supplier is paid late, it can no longer fulfill its financial obligations to its own suppliers, which in the worst case can lead to the failure of a company's entire supply chain," says Calvin Klein, research associate at the Institute of Supply Chain Management at the HSG.
The terms of payment, such as payment terms or maximum order volumes between companies, are therefore of great importance for the financial stability of the entire supply chain. In addition, buyers often have a financial interest in optimizing the terms of payment with their sources of supply.
"Especially in times of rising interest rates, many companies want longer terms of payment because this allows them to keep the money working profitably for longer periods and reduce the need to utilize expensive loans," says Phillip Wetzel, who also holds a doctorate from HSG. "For large companies in particular, where payables have to be settled in the millions, the payment terms can have a major financial impact."
Therefore,it is important for companies to carefully weigh up payment terms within their supplier network in order to harmonize different and sometimes conflicting requirements.
"You may have suppliers that are more dependent on liquidity than other large partners in the supply chain, where the terms of payment can be optimized without jeopardizing their financial stability," explains Wetzel.
To tackle the problem, Phillip Wetzel and Calvin Klein have been looking for ways to optimize payment terms in supply chains in their research at HSG. While Klein is currently continuing this research, Wetzel has meanwhile founded the startup Calculum together with Oliver Belin, also an HSG graduate a few years ago.
With the ADA Platform, Calculum offers companies a tool for analyzing their entire supplier network according to various criteria and optimizing their payment terms. A company can enter all of its suppliers in the ADA Platform and an algorithm then analyzes whether their payment terms correspond to market standards. This provides the users with a database that they can use to determine what payment terms each supplier offers to their other customers.
The tool also provides a lot of other useful information about the suppliers, such as their credit score or their ESG rating, i.e. how good they are rated in terms of environmental protection, social responsibility, and good corporate governance.
Calculum has filled an important gap in the market with its ADA Platform. Founded in 2020, the startup has now grown to 30 people working in various offices in Europe, Asia, and Miami. Its customers now include over 20 of the world's leading companies and Calculum was recognized as the best startup in Florida in 2021.
In the future, the founders would like to expand the platform even further and also provide important information on payment terms for suppliers when dealing with their customers. They also have plans to develop a global index of payment terms based on their data. This could be helpful for economic assessments, for example.
According to Belin, when companies run into financial difficulties, this is often accompanied by an increase in payment terms. For the time being, however, further research in collaboration with HSG is necessary. "The academic exchange with the University of St.Gallen is ongoing so that we can incorporate the latest findings into our AI-based platform."
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