Proton

Proton, founded in 2018, builds an AI-powered industry cloud platform for wholesale distributors. The platform unifies CRM, product information management (PIM), eCommerce AI, and Order & Quote Entry AI on a single data layer with what the company calls an “AI brain” at its core. It connects ERP, CRM, PIM and eCommerce systems to give commercial teams a 360-degree view of each customer and to automate manual tasks such as order entry and data enrichment.

The engineering work spans several domains: machine learning applied to sales recommendations and prioritisation, AI-driven order and quote entry automation, data enrichment and unification across enterprise systems, and integrations spanning ERP, CRM, PIM and eCommerce stacks. The platform is designed to tell sales teams which customers to call, which products to recommend and when to reach out - an AI-first product philosophy that the company contrasts with distribution software it argues creates more work than it eliminates.

Proton targets the wholesale distribution sector, an industry it sizes at $8tn, and counts MSC Industrial, ORS Nasco, Vallen, Swish and Benco Dental among its named customers, spanning industrial, safety supplies, janitorial and dental supplies distribution. The company reports that customers see a 3x profit return per dollar spent and an additional day of sales per month for each sales representative. Its founding story is rooted in the sector: the founder's family has been in distribution since 1930, and the stated mission is to bring the distribution industry into the modern age while helping distributors protect margins and grow revenue.