Philly's CorpU: Big deal with Dow Chemical

Dow Chemical Corp., the Michigan-based chemical giant that plans to unite with Wilmington-based DuPont Co. next month, has hired Philadelphia-based CorpU and its software "collaboration platform," designed to boost productivity for young workers by adding familiar elements of social networking (think Facebook) and consumer Web purchasing systems (like Amazon), into supply-chain management and other corporate functions.

"The CorpU platform enables the kind of structured conversations that can help Dow solve tough problems" and build an "end-to-end supply chain" using Millennial workers, Tom Gurd, Dow's VP-integrated supply chain, said in this statement.

"Dow is a recognized leader in talent management and supply chain innovation," Alan Todd, CorpU founder and CEO, said in the  statement. "We are thrilled they're using our platform." More than 1,000 Dow workers will use CorpU systems, a spokeswoman told me.

Business software has been a factor in the Dow-DuPont merger. As I reported before the deal was done last November, Dow has expanded its use of corporate financial systems from Newtown Square-based SAP Americas when it acquired Philadelphia-based Rohm and Haas in the late 2000s. 

DuPont had been implementing its own "One DuPont" software consolidation with Accenture, but cancelled the three-year-old project as it prepared to hook up with Dow. After they meld, cut costs and consolidate operations and vendors, plans call for splitting Dow-DuPont into separate pesticide-and-seed and materials companies and a Wilmington-based specialty-products group by 2018.

A Penn grad, cofounder of venture-backed Knowledge Planet and the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, Todd says he's built CorpU to $15 million in revenues last year, and expects that to rise around 50% to $22 million+ this year.

CorpU, based at 2401 Walnut (upstairs from Curalate), has raised $20 million in four investment rounds led by Global Silicon Valley Capital, Red Eagle Ventures, Penn Venture Partners, and Corporate Executive Board. CorpU is considering a $20 million+ round this fall.

CorpU doesn't plan to boost its staff as a result of the Dow deal, noting its software scales right up.