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Enjoy the stress, there will be a ton of it.

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Quepatagra
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Numarics business operating system that completely (OS) covers business management for SME, entrepreneurs and finance experts

Please introduce yourself and your startup Numarics to our readers!

Hi, I’m Kristian Kabashi, co-founder of the Swiss fintech startup Numarics.

Recently, with Numarics we introduced the world’s first business operating system (OS) that completely covers business management for SME. Used by entrepreneurs, finance experts and accountants alike, Numarics eliminates all need for orchestrated use of disparate accounting and finance software. Startups get the services of a CFO and COO through one engine and the strong operations team behind it. The team of fiduciary and financial experts feeds the artificial intelligence of this engine with process flows – transforming the use of accounting and finance services. Currently Numarics is available for in Switzerland registered businesses.

How did you get the idea of Numarics?

The idea of numarics was over a decade old and only waited to be realized during this time.

I remember it very clearly when I was still with my ex wife, she was sitting in the kitchen and working hours on an Excel spreadsheet, she was an auditor at one of the “Big Four”. I looked over her shoulder and said “You know that this work will be automated pretty soon“, she did not take it very kindly and I remember how irritated she was and how she said “you know how much I had to learn to be able to do this job“.

Why did you decide to start with Numarics?

Running a business has not changed basically since the old ages of Mesopotamia which is approximately 1000BC, the framework of running your business has stayed the same, the only thing that changed was the material of engagement from stone, to papyrus to Excel.

Running your business has become similar to going to the dentist, yes you need to do it, but I never heard someone who says that they enjoy doing so.

We are in a world where we have an app or a solution for basically everything yet in business we keep working with archaic software which is decades old and as much fun to use like your abacus in school.

What is the vision behind Numarics?

The world has moved over the past century from the blue collar to the white collar worker, Numarics will become the engine to enable the blank collar worker, the worker that leverages advanced technologies to enable the second renaissance. 

The pandemic has created a seismic shift which we have not seen since the industrial revolution, decades of change occurring basically over the timespan of a pandemic. The office has become just a place like any other place in any other city, country or continent. To empower this trend we need to empower business owners and entrepreneurs to be agile and mobile as the dynamic world we now live in, software should be an enabler, a simplifier to get things done and not a burden which enables procrastination, cost and frustration.

We want to empower these business owners and entrepreneurs to always have their CFO/COO with them who helps them to make the best decisions possible while optimizing their business growth.

How difficult was the start and which challenges you had to overcome?

The funny thing is that when it comes to the business idea and to the technology we use, everything was straightforward from day one. The difficulty was to connect business cultures. Since our team is very diverse in profession and also execution, it was very hard to synchronize the mindset of water and agile, MVP versus perfection, efficiency versus effectiveness.

Everyone we talked to and showed what we created always asked us the same question, why did not anyone else do this before and the answer was, people like in our team would not have met or ever worked together and it had to be many coincidences for us to come together as a team and emulgate water and oil to a smooth solution.

Who is your target audience?

We want to support SME entrepreneurs with less than 100 employees. Business owners who hate their administration but love their business.

What is the USP of your startup?

I call ourselves the senior startup since all founders are not the typical out of the university kind of guys but already had global executive careers and decided to start a new adventure. Our team is very very diverse, we have people like Dominique Rey (CEO) who has a background in auditing.

Can you describe your typical workday?

The majority of the day are micro decisions, lots of them. I think this is also a big part that distinguishes startups from enterprises. While I had to do up to 5 decisions a week as a global executive, within the startup world I have to do five daily if not more.

Where do you see yourself and your startup Numarics in five years?

Our vision is that Numarics becomes the engine of the new gig economy post Covid. We want to empower every business with a toolset that is usually only reserved for large enterprises with deep pockets. 

I want entrepreneurs in Europe to think of Numarics when thinking of running their business basically out of their pocket and have the security with them that their business is 24/7 in secure hands.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

Start with an MVP, and show it to as many people as you can and ask them, would they be willing to pay for it and if yes, how much. It is absolutely crucial to get as much information early on as possible so you dont waste unnecessary time developing something that you might think will work but really does not satisfy the needs of others.

Enjoy the stress, there will be a ton of it. Put yourself again into kindergarten shoes and take every misstep as a learning experience which you will use to make better decisions going forward.

Look after yourself, sleep, train and eat well, it is you, your body and your brain who need to function for several years at full speed, oil the engine and don’t wait for it to be repaired.

More information you will find here

Thank you Kristian Kabashi for the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

CEEZER closes seven-figure pre-seed funding round to revolutionise the carbon market

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Quepatagra
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CEEZERʼs digital platform makes voluntary carbon compensation and removal convenient, trustworthy and optimized for impact

Climate-tech start-up CEEZER enables European companies to filter through thousands of certified carbon reduction and removal projects across the globe, compare prices and quality points and buy high-quality carbon credits directly from carbon project developers in just a few clicks. This way, companies can compensate for their unavoidable emissions with more trust and carbon project developers work more seamlessly with corporates. 

While reducing emissions is priority number one across corporates from all sectors, many companies need to complement their climate impact by buying compensation and removal credits in a market that is expected to hit $50bn in 2030. This is especially often the case for companies that committed to net-zero pledges. The current voluntary carbon offset market, however, can not always guarantee transparency on pricing, quality and availability. 

“We are delighted with the feedback we received around the platform so far and will continue to do everything to enable companies to act in removing CO2 from our atmosphere. With the new funding, we will grow our team of industry experts and focus on a product that ensures unparalleled transparency and guidance for both sides of the market” says CEEZERʼs CEO and Founder Magnus. Chief Product Officer Hannes, formerly at Ecosia, adds: “By providing a data driven, end-to-end platform we can offer direct transactions between corporates and developers without risking quality. This is something that has long been missing in the voluntary carbon space. ” 

CEEZER works with both large project developers across established standards as well as smaller removal players to offer access to a balanced, high-quality portfolio. Much like on AirBnB, developers use CEEZER to create listings, highlight key quality indicators of their projects, set pricing and manage their carbon credits inventory. Early partners are closely involved in defining radically new services such as price recommendations from CEEZERʼs own benchmarking algorithm. First corporate customers are using CEEZERʼs portfolio algorithm to generate climate-impact optimized credit portfolios across technologies. 

Oliver Heinrich, Partner at Picus Capital, was immediately convinced byt CEEZERʼs vision: “Magnus and his team are building the much-needed infrastructure for the voluntary carbon market, thereby creating transparency, establishing trust and facilitating transactions. They are addressing a truly vital challenge because offsetting is decisive to fighting climate change. We couldnʼt be more excited to be partnering with CEEZER in creating positive climate impact. ” 

Source Lea Schramm | PR & Communication

Hire experts who are much better in their fields than you are

By
StartupValley
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Orderlion offers customers an e-commerce operating system for food supply chain

Please introduce yourself and your startup Orderlion to our readers!

My name is Stefan Strohmer, I am Co-Founder & CEO of Orderlion. My co-founder Patrick Schubert (CTO) and I started our company in Vienna, Austria in 2018. We offer our customers an e-commerce operating system (e-commerce OS) that we developed specifically for companies working within the food supply chain. 

With our SaaS solution, we help food suppliers and wholesalers digitize their key business processes, enabling them to connect more efficiently with different participants along the supply chain and optimize their operations. For food suppliers and wholesalers, the first step in their digital transformation is usually to digitize their ordering processes as 95% of all orders are still done via phone calls, voice messages on answering machines, and even fax machines.

Orderlion enables every supplier and wholesaler in the food industry to build their own webshop and ordering app so that their customers (e.g. restaurants, hotels, and supermarkets) can work with them more easily. In that respect, we also like to call ourselves the “Shopify of the food supply chain”. 

We are now active in 4 European countries, and our customers process over 60 million euros of order volume per year through their online portals provided by Orderlion, with a strong upward trend. Our customers and distribution partners include fruit and vegetable wholesalers, beverage suppliers, breweries and numerous national business associations (e.g. Deutscher Fruchthandelsverband e.V.).

How did you get the idea of Orderlion?

My co-founder Patrick and I had founded businesses together before. One of them was an IT consulting firm with a focus on optimizing the supply chain processes of companies. We had identified a recurring pattern among our former clients in the food industry: Time and again, we were tasked with optimizing the inefficient collaboration with their suppliers on one side and their customers on the other. They wanted to bring their outdated processes into the digital age – we identified this recurring pain point as a valid reason to develop a B2B SaaS solution specifically tailored to the food supply chain.

Why did you decide to start with Orderlion?

After Patrick and I lived and worked in Silicon Valley for a while a few years ago, it was obvious to both of us that we wanted to build a startup with a global focus and impact. With this shared goal in mind, we decided to develop a software platform that should incorporate our previous experiences as founders. Accordingly, we started working on Orderlion in 2018. 

What is the vision behind Orderlion?

Our vision is to make the global food supply chain more sustainable through digitalization. We have two goals: 1) to reduce food loss caused through inefficient planning and collaboration along the supply chain and 2) to enable thousands of food suppliers and wholesalers to grow in the long term, and thereby empower regional businesses through the creation and preservation of jobs. 

We are convinced that we can only realize a more sustainable global food supply chain if all players involved work with state-of-the-art technologies to unleash their full potential. This means in particular to develop digital solutions tailored to the specific needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as these companies make up 99% of the businesses along the supply chain. We want to be the #1 digitalization partner for them.

How difficult was the start and which challenges you had to overcome?

The food market is an absolutely fascinating industry. With billions of euros worth of goods moving across the globe every year, there are a lot of really big problems that need to be solved, offering plenty of business potential. It requires a lot of discipline to limit oneself to just one topic within this large market and focus 100% on it. Since digitizing the food supply chain can be accomplished in a number of ways, we wanted to take the time necessary to develop the right strategy and product that would satisfy our clients when we founded Orderlion.

After raising an initial pre-seed financing round from business angels, we first tested and iterated different MVPs for almost a year and a half to understand the industry and the processes that needed to be optimized in all possible details. At the beginning of 2020, we eventually had identified a scalable approach for solving the most important pain points that no one had tried before and clearly worked out our business model – this is how today’s Orderlion was born. Based on that, we closed a seed investment of one million euros with Austrian VC fund tecnet equity which specializes in B2B startups to kickstart our growth.

Who is your target audience?

Our target group are basically all suppliers and wholesalers who are part of the global food supply chain. The world of food and beverages is big, all kinds of goods have to get from A to B at any time of the day. Accordingly, our customers range from national beverage suppliers and international breweries to regional meat, fruit and vegetable wholesalers who deliver fresh products to their customers. On the ordering side, there are a large number of businesses that regularly have to order new goods and produce from their suppliers via Orderlion’s e-commerce OS. This includes restaurants, hotels, care businesses, supermarkets or international fast food chains.

What is the USP of your startup?

Orderlion is like Shopify in terms of its fundamental idea, but with the difference that it is tailored specifically to food suppliers and wholesalers. A supplier or wholesaler can link its existing inventory management system with Orderlion and then let its customers place orders via its own online store and mobile app which get provided through our platform. It basically works as if we as end consumers order something online from the comfort of our homes, only with much higher volumes.

In addition, suppliers and wholesalers can use Orderlion for optimizing their sales. With our platform, they can set up target group-specific offers and promotions to their existing customers. Our clients can also use Orderlion to make their customer support more efficient. Through a built-in chat function, every customer has the possibility to get in touch with a supplier immediately.

Can you describe your typical workday?

It depends a lot on the specific role of a founder what a typical workday looks like. In the case of our CTO, the ongoing coordination with our product development and developers as well as testing new technologies for future projects are the main areas of responsibility.

In my role as CEO, most tasks revolve around the growth of our company. Whether it is through conversations with investors, business partners, or our operational teams, my job is to make sure that everyone else can do their job as well as possible and that there are no obstacles in anyone’s way.

Where do you see yourself and your startup Orderlion in five years?

At the moment, everything at our company is geared towards international growth. After our start in Germany and Austria, we expanded into Switzerland and the UK a few months ago. These markets are developing extremely well for us. We are already evaluating which countries we will launch in next. Overall, we aim for Orderlion to become the most comprehensive online platform to strengthen the relationship between food suppliers and wholesalers and their customers and to make their collaboration more sustainable.

We aim to become the digital standard for the food supply chain so that the entire industry can work together in a data-driven and more efficient way. In the future, we want to be in a spot where we massively help reduce food loss along the supply chain as well as support regional businesses in building economic resilience and thus maintaining their independence.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

Use the first 15 minutes of each morning to write a daily to-do list. Order and prioritize your tasks by “business impact” and focus only on those throughout the day. Without compromise.

Work out your “core business” as early as possible. You can’t have too many different goals going on at the same time or you’ll have chaos in the company. As a team, with a clear main process and focus throughout the whole company, you create a higher output and better outcomes with less resources. For example, it is better to start with a very narrow customer target group instead of all of the ones that could theoretically be approached. 

Hire experts who are much better in their fields than you are. This way you can focus 100% on your tasks and your areas of responsibility. If you don’t delegate enough, it will bring a company to a halt. A team made up of strong generalists and subject matter experts will accomplish much more together than you ever could on your own. Once you find the right setup, you can watch with joy how your initial idea grows over time into something that is much greater than the sum of its parts.

Thank you Stefan Strohmer for the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

Never lose hope

By
Quepatagra
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0

Myla.in home services start-up aiming to bridge the gap between the individual and small-scale service providers and the customers

Please introduce yourself and your startup Myla. In to our readers!

Myla.in is a home services start-up aiming to bridge the gap between the individual and small-scale service providers and the customers looking for quality service. We provide doorstep services and products to our valued customers through our curated and verified partners. We enable ease of access to all our services and products through our in-house digital and technology platform.

Myla.in is active in 20+ cities in India and has to date completed 25000+ orders, collaborated with 5000+ vendors who are a part of this platform.

How did you get the idea of Myla.in?

I am a serial entrepreneur with varied business interests ranging from Oil and Gas, Shipping, Marine and offshore, Food and beverages, properties, etc. Myla.in is my latest venture with a couple of my associates, whom I have known since my school days. We have been curious about how the digital revolution is constantly transforming the world. Modern technologies have changed the way we interact and communicate. It has also bridged the gap between the people and the availability of products and services. This factor drove us to venture into this startup by creating a Super app offering a myriad of services. 

Why did you decide to start with Myla. In?

The home service industry is a huge untapped sector in India and we believe our firm has a huge potential for market penetration and expansion. 

What is the vision behind Myla. In?

The vision of the start-up is to make the majority of the Indian unorganized service provider workforce a part of digital India. The approach of the founders of Myla.in is to empower the unorganized service providers of India with end-to-end digital capability of their own. In this regard, they aim not only for the domestic market but also for the global market. 

How difficult was the start and which challenges you have to overcome?

Any startup journey is a mixed bag of learning new things and challenges. But one major challenge I encountered was understanding the demand for home services in smaller cities. Though the response rate from Tier 1 cities has been exemplary, the same expectation from Tier 2 or Tier 3 cities was difficult to assess.

Who is your target audience?

Myla.in has taken advantage of rapid urbanization, leading to nuclear families with higher disposable incomes but less leisure time, where families want hassle-free service providers at their beck and call. The accelerated digitization process that has migrated from goods to services, also impacted Myla.in to cater to the shifting preferences of customers.

What is the USP of your startup?

Myla.in is dubbed as the services supermarket, where every kind of service can be bought. It offers a wide range of services. Myla.in is actively capturing the market in tier-2 or tier 3 cities much unlike its competitors who are concentrated in Tier 1 cities. 

Can you describe your typical workday?

My day begins with waking up at 5 am in the morning and doing some yoga and meditation. Typically, my entire day is hectic with meetings with different stakeholders, clients, and team members. I prefer to work aggressively during the day and perform light tasks in the evening.

Where do you see yourself and your startup Myla.in in five years?

I see myself leading Myla.in as a well-established listed global company that is known and loved for providing quality one-stop solutions for all services needs of the society through its well-established technological super app platform.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

As a startup founder, I would like to state that the journey will not be an easy path. It will have a lot of challenges. My first tip is to never lose hope. Even if the problems don’t have an immediate solution, it is important to stick around and be positive.

The second tip I would like to state is don’t burn out. It is important to create a balance and restore energy for the long-term survival of the firm.

My final tip is to be consistent and motivate yourself to achieve your goals.

More information you will find here

Thank you Sidharth Kulbhaskar for the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

Transferwise founder invests in the upcoming Insurtech company Feather

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Quepatagra
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Feather raises €3.8m from several unicorn founders

Transferwise’s founder Taavet Hinrikus invested €3.8m into Feather alongside founders or C-level from Monzo, N26, Go-cardless as well as insurance experts involved in the building of Clark and Element. Feather is an insurtech company in Germany that has helped +30,000 customers from over 150 countries with insurance to date.

The company was founded in 2018 by Rob Schumacher, a former McKinsey consultant with a PhD in actuarial science (insurance mathematics) and Vincent Audoire, one of the first software engineers at N26, one of the biggest digital banking companies in Europe.

One thing that makes Feather stand out is that they were already profitable and had not raised a seed round despite working with a team of 20. After meeting at Entrepreneur First, Rob and Vincent took this unusual route because they thought that “money wouldn’t help them go any faster”, and launching 9 insurance products over the last four years has proved them right.

Rob Schumacher said, “Through bootstrapping, we built a really healthy business and were actually not looking for funding. We liked that we were forced to build products that customers value – fast. Taavet and Sten were immediately excited by our vision, and in the very first meeting we had we already developed some great ideas to grow the business together. We are excited to have their functional expertise in B2C fintech but also their company building experience on board” 

Taavet Hinrikus said, “I was really impressed with how far the team has come without funding, and am excited to see another industry be made transparent and digital. There are many parallels to wise, and the potential is there to build an even bigger company.”

About Feather. Feather was founded in 2018 by Rob Schumacher and Vincent Audoire after both of them struggled to navigate the insurance system in Germany. That’s why Feather builds insurance to make all interactions easier and more transparent: from signing up and filing a claim to canceling. The goal is to give honest, unbiased advice, with all the information needed to make the right decision. And, because of how complicated insurance is, Feather offers tools, articles, and support where people can reach out to a human about problems or questions they have. Currently, Feather has helped people from over 150 countries get insurance digitally and is expanding quickly

More information you will find here

Source Popsure Deutschland GmbH

Atelier Riforma Re4Circular helps to optimize, reuse and resale textile waste

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Quepatagra
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0

The Green Alley Award finalist 2022 we present you today is Atelier Riforma, also from Italy, which aims to sustainably disrupt the textile industry. They developed a digital platform – Re4Circular – based on AI technology which helps to optimize, reuse and resale textile waste. Elena Ferrero and Sara Secondo founded Atelier Riforma in 2020 and the startup thus counts into the high share of 39,5% of female-founded startups among the applicants for the Green Alley Award 2022. However, female entrepreneurs are still underrepresented in the startup world, but there has been an increase by 10% between 2009 and 2019. We need more female-founded startups for several reasons, but probably one of the most important ones highlighted by the German initiative #startupdiversity, is that when founding a business, women focus more often on social and sustainable innovations than men, which are especially relevant regarding future and societal development.

So, let’s hear what our experts in this field say:

In your experience, how is being a female leadership tandem? Do you see certain benefits, and would you agree on the statement that the world needs more female entrepreneurs?

We are quite proud to be two female founders: becoming a woman entrepreneur from scratch is satisfying, because it often means having overcome limits that the male counterpart never has to face. However, we are convinced that the goodness of a project depends little on the gender of the founders, but on the values they bring with them.

We still see few women in the startup world, but we are happy that the situation is changing and we hope that our example can encourage other young women. Sometimes being a woman is also an advantage: for example, when you are in the middle of an audience where most of the participants are men, you get more attention (even if “attention” does not always mean “credibility”).

We do not know if the world needs more women entrepreneurs, simply women should have the same opportunities as men, in any profession. We just hope that one day we will no longer be surprised to see a woman in a leadership position, because it will be the norm.

Lately, even the textile industry is trying to become more sustainable. Change is happening, since many big players are working on tackling their waste problem and partner up with second-hand markets or higher-end industries. Why do we still need your solution?

It is certainly positive that many fashion brands are trying to implement initiatives to reduce their environmental impact. A lot is being done, compared to 10 years ago, and this makes us very happy. But that’s not enough! Often these are small initiatives, disconnected from the whole context – when they are not sheer greenwashing strategies.

We need a systemic solution, which could massively direct post-consumer clothes – which are the most difficult to recover, compared to pre-consumer waste – towards circular destinations, such as reuse, recycling, refashioning or other upcycling strategies.

At the same time, it is necessary to push and facilitate as much as possible fashion brands to produce their clothes starting from the already existing material and stop extracting new virgin resources. And these are precisely the goals that we have set ourselves with our solution Re4Circular.

What has been your last greatest success (apart from making it to the Green Alley Award finals)?

Our latest great success was being selected among more than 1300 startups from around the world for the Startupbootcamp FashionTech acceleration program, one of the most important accelerators in Europe for fashion tech.

You’re still in an early stage, where do you see your startup in 5 years from now?

Actually, we look like an early-stage startup, but we’re not! Our project was born in 2019, with a different business model. We initially threw ourselves headlong into the problem, doing a very hands-on activity: collecting used clothes and creating a network of tailors so that the garments could be repaired and have a second life. However, we saw that this model was difficult to scale and could have a limited positive impact.

So, we took advantage of this experience and tried to improve it. And so the idea of Re4Circular was born in 2021. This technology and this new business model have been carefully studied in order to have a greater positive impact.

In five years, we see Re4Circular as an industrial machine, used throughout Europe by all the companies that collect used clothing, in order to direct them to circular destinations rather than to landfills.

Complete the following sentence: Our solution helps to save the world because…?”

… it reduces the amount of textile waste that is dispersed into the environment; we help instead to use waste as a secondary raw material for circular products.

Take your chance and watch Atelier Riforma pitch their idea live on stage in Berlin on 28th April. Register here and meet our finalist in person.

Source Green Alley Award

Agree innovation to reduce food waste

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Quepatagra
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We start our series about our Green Alley Award 2022 finalists with Agree from Italy, who was the winner of our public voting and therefore the first startup to enter the finals. They developed a plant-based edible coating from agricultural by-products to help supermarkets, wholesalers, and farmers to increase shelf life of fruits and vegetables to avoid rapid degeneration. A great innovation to reduce food waste! And let us just briefly go back to another great thing: the exceptional result of this year’s voting: a total of 6,663 people participated and Agree got 2,078 votes – what a success!

First of all, wow! What a result, it seems like you have quite a large base of supporters already. How did you establish this, or do you think your innovation just perfectly meets current consumer needs?

To be honest, it was a wonderful surprise to see so many people interested in our project. Initially, we only counted on the energy of friends and colleagues that have already known and believed in our project. However, after a couple of days, we noticed a growing interest in our project, far beyond our expectations. At some point, we even captured the attention of Italian journals reaching out to us, wanting to learn more about Agree and our solution.

We didn’t expect such an interest in our project, but we do know that nowadays people, in general, are more aware of the different eco-friendly alternatives for a more sustainable world. We believe that the interest in a project like ours is also driven by the latest legislation about banning single-use plastics in Europe. France and Spain have already banned them, and we believe that more countries will be adopting similar measures soon. 

Our proposal is presented as an alternative to plastic wraps for fruits and vegetables, which at the same time aims at reducing the food waste problem. Like us, many of the Green Alley Award participants proposed solutions and alternatives to tackle the single-use plastic and plastic waste problem. We saw amazing projects and we’re glad to be among such innovative and impactful ideas!

How likely do you think are producers or farmers to adopt your innovation instead of keep using plastic packaging? Did you receive feedback already and can estimate the market acceptance?

We did get in contact with local producers and farmers and learned that they are open to adopting solutions like ours. We are still talking to them and the rest of the stakeholders of the supply chain to hear about their experiences and problems to get a better idea of how to face the food and plastic waste issues as good as possible according to their current needs. In general, we are not proposing merely coatings, but more an eco-friendly solution for our customers. The goal is to reduce the food waste within their processing and packaging steps and to avoid the excessive use of plastic or expensive alternatives, which means a saving in economic and environmental terms for them. 

By collaborating with our customers and stakeholders, we can develop customised solutions for them and face the food waste problem together as well as reduce single-use plastics. That’s our main mission. 

You are Italy-based. A country that is quite at the forefront when it comes to circularity and the number of startups there is constantly increasing. How did your location affect your business idea and now the development of your startup Agree? Do you think that it’s likely that Italy will become the new circular innovation hotspot?

Being based in Italy strongly influenced the origin of our idea. In our team, we all have a strong connection with food and its culture, and that’s why for us, understanding the food waste problem and trying to tackle it was a necessity. We live in Piedmont, a region famous for its food culture and tradition. Piedmont is also rich in high-quality agricultural products, but also in by-products that we can use as raw materials. Hence, we decided to embed this circular approach in our business solution.

Even if we are only just starting with our project, our goal is to contribute to the Italian innovation ecosystem for the circular economy, which is currently growing and inspiring more and more students and researchers from various countries to innovate in Italy. Many people including investors are now understanding the power of innovation and where it can lead us here in Italy. We are looking forward to seeing how the Italian ecosystem will continue to grow. 

You are planning to get a patent on your technology from April 2022 on, what are your next steps?

In the upcoming months, we would like to go more in-depth regarding the food and packaging systems and gain a better understanding of the different mechanisms that are responsible for food waste in the vegetable supply chain. We also aim at getting a comprehensive overview of the problems related to the excessive use of plastics and of what alternatives might be.  

Currently, we trying to establish more partnerships with local farmers and fruits dealers to launch our first pilot project soon. The idea is to start to test our solution and model as soon as possible, we are aiming for the second half of 2022. In the meantime, we are promoting activities of food waste awareness on social media and in particular events looking to create a solid community of food activists that believe in a more sustainable and circular economy.

Please complete the following sentence: Our solution helps to save the world because…?”

It can increase the availability of food 

It can reduce food loss and waste problems

And it can improve the use of natural resources (water, energy, and soil) and avoid more CO2 emissions

Take your chance and watch Agree pitch their idea live on stage in Berlin on 28th April. Register here and meet our finalist in person. 

Source Green Alley Award

It’s key to learn from your mistakes and improve

By
Quepatagra
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0

Rens launched the Elemental hoodie which will entry into the metaverse as the first 2022 units are accompanied by a Hoodie NFT

Please introduce yourself and your startup Rens to our readers!

I’m Jesse Tran, Co-Founder and CEO of Rens Original, the Finnish eco-startup behind the world’s first sneakers made from coffee waste and recycled plastic. I’ve lived in Finland for 10 years since I moved from Vietnam to pursue my bachelor’s degree at Aalto University. My co-founder – Son Chu – and I founded Rens back in 2018 in Helsinki, Finland. We both have extensive backgrounds in Fashion, manufacturing and e-commerce as Son worked at Zalando and I had founded my previous startup FactoryFinder, which helped to connect small European fashion brands with sustainable manufacturers in Asia.

In 2019, we launched the World’s First Coffee Sneaker via Kickstarter, raising over half a million euros from over 5.000 customers in 100+ countries worldwide and became the all-time largest fashion Kickstarter campaign in the Nordics. Since then, we have been continuously growing and expanding, with Germany and the UK being our top markets in Europe.

Now, we just launched our first apparel collection, the Elemental hoodie, which will also mark our entry into the metaverse as the first 2022 units are accompanied by a Hoodie NFT.

We believe that we are living in an era where the digital and real worlds are merging. We have built Rens as a brand for the young generations and therefore, we need to be in the spaces and worlds that our community is. The metaverse is an extension of the real world and as we provide sustainable products for our community to travel between continents and countries, we want to provide these same products to them to travel between different worlds and universes in the digital space.

How did you get the idea of Rens?

The word “rens” has a few different meanings around the globe and shares a connective thread between them. From the Far East, Confucianism brings us REN (without -s) describing altruism and especially the AWESOME FEELING you get when you do something good for other people. In the West, “rens” is found in Scandinavian languages, meaning “clean, unpolluted, and pure.” These two combine to define Rens: feeling awesome about doing good for people and the world around them.

Why did you decide to start with Rens?

Son and I have been sneakerheads forever. Everything started in a coffee shop when we were discussing how there are so few options for sustainable sneakers that actually look good. Most of the time, sustainability equals sacrificing style and vice versa. That’s when we decided to create the pair of sustainable sneakers that we ourselves want to wear every day. Now we are expanding it to other clothing categories, yet using a combination of waste-based and organic materials mixed with the best innovative technologies.

What is the vision behind Rens?

Rens’ vision is to provide sustainable fashion wearables that are cool and edgy for the young generations no matter if they are in the real world or in the metaverse. Our physical products will be designed and produced by combining waste-based and organic materials and the digital wearables will be created in the greener blockchain technologies. Being part of the metaverse won’t only let our community enjoy their favourite sustainable fashion in any world but also allow us to bring the crypto wealth back to the real world to solve real problems such as environmental and social issues that matter.

How difficult was the start and which challenges did you have to overcome?

We launched our Direct-to-consumer webstore right before the pandemic in early 2020. That was probably one of the most challenging experiences of the entire process, navigating the brands through the COVID “era”. Production was delayed, logistics was heavily interrupted and we struggled to deliver the products to customers in time. However, at the end of the day, we managed to weather the storm and grow the brand ́s global presence via our own website and Zalando with our biggest markets including the US, Germany, the UK, and Finland.

Sustainable materials are way more expensive than synthetic ones and that had been a challenge for us, as we want to offer products that are environmentally friendly but affordable for young people. Choosing Kickstarter and pre-order for our launches also helps the sustainable focus, as we only produce under demand cutting energy usage and material waste.

Rens only uses GRS, FSC and RCS certified materials from the first step of the production until the last-mile shipping in order to reduce climate footprint and it’s not easy to find the right partners and suppliers that comply with these credentials.

Lastly, entering the metaverse as a sustainable brand has been one of our biggest challenges. We are fully aware of the detrimental environmental impact that the Crypto’s proof of work has, that’s why we had to make sure to work with the greenest and most sustainable technologies available in the metaverse. For that matter, we decided to create our NFTs in Polygon, a blockchain that together with Tezos, is the most sustainable option due to their energy-efficient Proof of Stake. On top of that, we will completely offset the energy usage of our NFTs with Aerial to invest in environmental real-world projects.

As people travel from the real world to the metaverse, so do their wealth. However, we have only a real world with real environmental and social problems to solve. By targeting the consumerism in the metaverse, we can create financial assets to re-invest back into the real world to support projects that actually matter.

Who is your target audience?

Our targeted audiences are the younger generations: young millennials, Gen Z and the upcoming Gen Alpha. We aim to educate all the members of these generations that are in the metaverse about sustainability and its importance, as well as educate our sustainable community in the Web3 and its benefits when being sustainable there too.

What is the USP of your startup?

I think that our Unique Selling Point is that we are the only sustainable fashion brand that was born and is yet community-based and that provides wearables both in real life and the metaverse.

Can you describe your typical workday?

Both Son and I work more hours than we should. It is very difficult for startup founders to keep a balance between their business and their professional life but we are learning how to deal with both one step at a time. We mainly focus on meeting our different teams both internal and partners/suppliers which already covers the main part of our days. After that, we manage different paperwork, look for innovations and research new ideas, plan new launches, and do many more tasks.

Where do you see yourself and your startup Rens in five years?

As the CEO, I hope I can educate the mass members of our target about sustainability and Web3 as a positive relationship by proving to them that it is possible. As for Rens, we want to continue to be one of the leading sustainable fashion brands in both the physical and digital worlds.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

I think it’s very important to listen to your team. As the CEO, I know many general things about multiple disciplines but I’m not a specialist that’s why I work to make sure to listen to every team member’s opinion and feedback both in collective and individual monthly sessions. When we ideate a new product, the whole team is involved from scratch to the final product. Then, we involve our community by pre-launching before producing. Rens is based on community, from the inside and from the outside.

It’s key to learn from your mistakes and improve. Both my co-founder and I had made many mistakes in the way: from choosing materials to management techniques but I’m
proud to say that we always learn our lesson to avoid the same mistake to happen twice. As a startup, most of the time we work by trial error and we learn what works and what doesn’t for our team and for our community.

Offer unique products and services to your audiences and make them participate in them. People want things that make their lives easier and better as well as to feel part of a community.

More information you will find here

Thank you Jesse Tran for the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

Autobrains Announces $120 Million Series C Funding

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StartupValley
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Autobrains Announces $120 Million Series C Funding Bringing Self-Driving Into Full Autonomy, Solving the ‘Impossible’ 1% Error Margin 

Autobrains, an AI-pioneer mobility company that develops revolutionary self-learning technology for advanced driving assisted systems and autonomous driving, today announced the final closing of Series C funding amounting to $120 million led by Temasek together with both existing partners Continental and BMW i Ventures as well as new participants Knorr-Bremse AG and VinFast. 

This funding is set to advance Autobrains’ technology, accelerating development to become the next generation of autonomous vehicles and mobility. Autobrains will use this funding to further refine its self-learning AI learning technology capabilities and expand into new domains such as trucks. With existing and new OEMs and Tier-1s from this latest funding round, Autobrains will grow their commercial reach into new global markets and expand sites in Asia, Europe and the U.S. Rapidly on the path to full autonomy, Autobrains is delivering the solution to the challenge that has eluded competitors: solving the 1% margin of error in autonomous driving. 

“The immense success of this most recent funding round demonstrates that Autobrains is a key player in leading the future of mobility which will be powered by AI,” said Karl-Thomas Neumann, Autobrains’ Chairman. “It’s invigorating to see the degree in which our self-learning AI solutions to ADAS and autonomous driving are transforming the next generation of mobility to create real automation.” 

2021 showcased unprecedented demand for ADAS and AVs, with trillions of dollars being poured into the self-driving industry, the demand for better and safer solutions is expected to continue to spike in the coming years being driven by legislation and NCAP testing. However, despite great advancements in recent years, the unsolved predicament of self-driving applications continues to be AI technologies’ shortcomings in unusual scenarios. 

“Autobrains’ technology holds the promise we have all been looking for to create the paradigm shift in the industry to self-learning AI, bridging the gap to fully autonomous driving,” said Thuy Linh Pham, Deputy CEO VinFast. “Autobrains captured our attention by applying self-learning AI software, as opposed to traditional software that is based on manually labeled data, to make self-driving vehicles adaptive to unprecedented behaviors in real-time. We expect that Autobrains will actualize this ambitious goal into a reality in the near future.”

Current market solutions are unable to cover unpredictable edge-cases without more complex, self-learning-based algorithms – these are essential push factors in order to truly transform the automotive industry. Autobrains’ self-learning application thwarts these challenges. Developing advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous driving solutions, Autobrains’ AI technology is designed to learn like the human brain, through neural networks, and process information the same way as humans. The avant-garde approach applies ‘human learning’ by using a signature-based technology, enabling cars to learn, collaborate and interact with the real world with no supervision, utilizing data and scenarios from the car’s surroundings to enable decision-making just like the human brain, in real time.

“We feel that Autobrains’ technology has parlayed autonomous vehicles into the tangible present, bridging the industry gap with our breakthrough AI technology,” said Igal Rachelgauz, Autobrains’ CEO. “Our newest product offers unparalleled features to any other technology on the market, functioning with a higher degree of accuracy and capability to predict even the most challenging scenarios like school zones, construction sites, even off roading. Our mission is to become the market leader in providing self-driving solutions that are safer, more affordable with superior performance in edge-cases.” 

Autobrains’ new and refreshing commercial approach applies its open-AI platform, tailored to each of its partners’ specifications. This vastly differs from current solutions that offer a black box software bundle and chip in a ‘one size fits all’ offering, which of recent has become apparent to no longer suit the market demands. Requiring less computing power that is 10x less than existing systems, lower energy consumption and reduced cost of up to 40%, Autobrains has the precise solutions for the next generation of vehicles and mobility. 

“Autobrains’ proven self-learning AI technology has the potential to disrupt ADAS and HAD development in the truck industry. The Autobrains video perception software operates in a fundamentally different way from traditional deep learning systems. The Autobrains approach requires less data and computing power, which can significantly reduce development times and costs. In addition, it is independent from the underlying hardware,” says Dr. Jan Mrosik, CEO of Knorr-Bremse AG and responsible for the Commercial Vehicle Systems division on an interim basis. 

Dr. Jürgen Steinberger, Member of the Management Board of Knorr-Bremse Commercial Vehicle Systems adds: “This groundbreaking technology enables Knorr-Bremse to react quickly and flexibly to the various requirements in the commercial vehicle business, which is characterized by a wide variety of vehicle types with different installation situations and newly upcoming legislation. This flexibility is especially needed for certain markets in Asia. That’s why this strategic investment fits well into our ADAS and HAD strategy for the commercial vehicle sector.” 

Picuture Source Autobrains

Source Text: PIABO PR GmbH

A Complete Guide to Successful Cold Calling

By
StartupValley
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0

Cold calling is considered a tough job, with a high probability of the caller’s proposal getting rejected. However, statistics show that people continue to pick up calls from new companies and even attend successive meetings. 

Research by Zippia revealed that around 70% of buyers admitted to having accepted one or more sales calls in the past year. More than 80% of these buyers stated they had agreed to schedule sales meetings after a connection initiated through a cold call. Around 60% of B2B C-level executives say that they  prefer being contacted over the phone. 

The statistics clearly show that cold calling has a great deal of untapped potential. If it is a part of your job, read on to find out how you can improve your abilities. 

1. Research Before Calling

Around 90% of call receivers say that cold callers do not learn their needs before calling. This feeling can cause resistance before you even initiate your pitch. Furthermore, if you do not know the recipient’s position or the company’s pain points, you will only be able to give a general outline of your product or services. To increase your chances of success, it’s prudent to go through their and their company’s social media presence on platforms like LinkedIn. Your research will allow you to personalize your calls and tailor your strategies accordingly. 

2. Show Clear Solutions 

A successful sales pitch understands the needs of its target audience and shows exactly how it fulfills them. You need to customize every script per the recipient of your call and lay down exactly how your proposition is of value to them. Your research should allow you to identify the company’s pain points, ask questions about those pain points to engage the recipient in the conversation. You need to be clear in communicating the results they can expect after using your service. Make sure you are prepared to show how they are better than your competitors’ solutions. Your prospects are more likely to invest if they know what to expect.

3. Let Your Script Be a Guide

To make your call successful, you should aim to start a conversation. You need to encourage questions and tailor your responses accordingly. Not everything can be predicted, so be prepared to deviate from the script when necessary, and note down such instances to prepare better for your next call. 

4. Practice

To improve your calls, make sure you practice a few scenarios. Going through your call recordings will further facilitate your practice by allowing you to infer your own pain points and weak spots. Make sure you use decent call recording software to ease the process. As the CEO and co-founder of YOU advises, believe in yourself, and you will succeed.

Endnote 

Referring to successful sales script examples before drafting one will further enable you to hone your pitch to perfection. Here’s a successful sales script examples pdf file to let you ace your cold calls. 

Author Harry Wilson

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

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