Supply chains have faced unprecedented disruption over the past few years—from the COVID-19 pandemic’s global shockwaves to the rapid consumer shifts driven by trends like the rise of short-form retail platforms. Meeting fast-changing demand while managing operational resilience has become a major challenge for companies across industries.
One emerging solution comes from Pendulum, a company that’s applying AI to bring greater precision to supply and demand planning in this volatile environment.
A Unified Approach to Fragmented Supply Chain Data
Pendulum’s platform aggregates diverse internal data points—including inventory, procurement, and pricing—into a single AI-powered model. By analyzing this data, the platform aims to help companies predict consumer demand patterns more accurately and optimize production, procurement, and stock levels accordingly.
According to Pendulum CEO and co-founder Benjamin Fels, fine-tuning the balance between supply and demand isn’t just a margin improvement exercise—it’s also a powerful sustainability lever. By ensuring products match consumer demand more precisely, companies can cut waste, lower carbon footprints, and improve operational efficiency at scale.
A Decade of R&D Behind a New Vision
The origins of Pendulum trace back to Fels’ work in financial markets, where he led teams developing AI prediction models for trading. Recognizing a similar opportunity in the supply chain sector, Fels co-founded Macro-Eyes in 2013 with MIT’s Suvrit Sra to explore AI-driven supply-demand optimization.
After years of research and refinement, the company evolved into Pendulum as it shifted toward commercial deployment. Today, Pendulum serves enterprises across retail, healthcare, and national defense sectors, with clients such as Adore Me (a Victoria’s Secret brand) and the U.S. Department of Defense.
Scaling with New Capital and Expertise
Pendulum recently announced a $22 million funding round, consisting of $11 million in venture capital from investors like Lowercarbon Capital and Cross-Border Impact Ventures, and $11 million in non-dilutive funding for R&D.
Alongside the capital raise, Pendulum has strengthened its leadership team with the addition of Jean-François Gagné—co-founder of Element AI—as Chief Strategy and Product Officer. Gagné’s background in enterprise AI and supply chain optimization is expected to help drive Pendulum’s product development and market expansion efforts.
Meeting the New Supply Chain Reality
With supply chain volatility expected to remain a persistent challenge, companies are seeking smarter, AI-powered systems to replace legacy forecasting models. Pendulum’s founders believe that decades of traditional supply chain optimization efforts are no longer sufficient to handle today’s levels of uncertainty.
“We’re seeing volatility on both the supply and demand sides like never before,” Fels noted. “That demands a fundamentally new approach to how organizations predict, plan, and respond.”
With a decade of R&D and a fresh injection of resources, Pendulum aims to offer exactly that—a next-generation toolkit for enterprises navigating the new supply chain reality.
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