Aankhen named Frost & Sullivan global company of year

Frost & Sullivan has named Aankhen its 2026 Global Company of the Year in tariff management solutions, recognising its position in a market shaped by tariff volatility and supply chain disruption.

The research and consulting firm assessed companies on strategy effectiveness and execution, and found that Aankhen performed strongly on both measures. It highlighted the company's financial supply chain tools and digital assistants, designed to help businesses manage the effect of tariffs on pricing, sourcing, and margins.

Based in Silicon Valley, Aankhen focuses on what it calls financial supply chain visibility. Its main product, fiChains, is designed to provide forward-looking financial data at stock-keeping-unit level, replacing information that often arrives months after a purchasing or logistics decision has been made.

That delay can be critical for manufacturers and other multinationals facing rapid shifts in tariff regimes, a growing number of product variations and more complex sourcing patterns across multiple countries of origin. In that environment, companies are under pressure to adjust prices, procurement and logistics before higher costs are locked in.

Frost & Sullivan said Aankhen's system combines financial data with task automation across business functions. The company also offers a set of digital assistants, including fiDA for finance, procDA for procurement, logiDA for logistics and iDA for information, intended to carry out workflows and enforce pricing decisions across supply chains.

According to Frost & Sullivan, that approach has helped Aankhen build a position among multinationals seeking tighter control over tariff exposure. Its growth strategy, the firm said, has centred on digital tools, outcome-based commercial models and partnerships across the supply chain ecosystem.

Customer focus

The assessment also cited customer experience as a factor in the award. Frost & Sullivan said Aankhen's model aims to remove weak processes rather than simply digitise them, while keeping training demands low and linking commercial terms to measurable financial results.

The model is designed to tie Aankhen's revenue more closely to outcomes such as margin improvement, cost recovery and operational agility. In supply chain software, where buyers are often wary of lengthy deployments and uncertain returns, that can be a differentiator.

Aankhen said its systems are already used in large-scale operations, citing one deployment in which it serves as the price execution system of record for USD $35 billion in direct materials at a global supply chain company.

That scale matters because tariff management is no longer a niche compliance issue for many manufacturers and distributors. It increasingly affects procurement strategy, supplier negotiations, inventory planning and the final price paid by customers.

Industry pressure

Businesses have spent recent years dealing with a more unsettled trading environment as tariffs, geopolitical tensions and changing sourcing patterns have increased the cost of moving goods across borders. Those pressures have pushed companies to seek better visibility into how trade measures affect costs at a detailed product level.

Systems that provide near real-time pricing and impact analysis are becoming more relevant as finance and operations teams try to respond faster. Traditional reporting cycles, often based on historic cost data, can leave businesses reacting only after the financial impact has already appeared in margins.

Karthik Sundaram, Research Director at Frost & Sullivan, said Aankhen had distinguished itself by addressing that gap. "Aankhen is redefining global supply chain management through its pioneering financial supply chain solutions. By delivering forward-looking, computable, repeatable, and verifiable financial facts and deploying digital assistants that execute work autonomously, the company enables enterprises to make decisions at digital speed, mitigate tariff impacts, and transform cost centers into margin drivers," Sundaram said.

Aankhen Chief Executive Officer Subhash Chowdary said the recognition reflected the practical use of its tariff management product.

"When 'time to change' is less than the 'time to implement change' you need technology that really works globally. fiChains for Tariff Management is our proof of work. We are honored to be recognized by Frost & Sullivan for Financial Supply Chain innovation," Chowdary said.

Frost & Sullivan's annual Company of the Year award is given to businesses that show strong strategy development and implementation, leading to gains in market share, customer satisfaction and competitive standing.