START-UP & SCALE-UP CONTEST
Ventory from Belgium wins European Supply Chain Start-up Contest 2023
Belgian start-up Ventory emerged as the winner of the sixth European Supply Chain Start-up Contest organized by Supply Chain Media. The competition took place yesterday during the inNOWvate Supply Chain Event at Pathé Movie Theatre in Ede, the Netherlands. Ventory impressed the jury and participants with its smart and intuitive solution for inventory management across multiple locations.
In addition to Ventory, two other finalists competed for victory in the sixth edition of the European Supply Chain Start-up Contest: Fabrikatör from Germany and Permutable AI from the United Kingdom. The jury evaluated the finalists in an interview based on four criteria: commercial potential, technological innovation, usability, and clarity of their presentation.
Based on the jury interview and votes from the audience, Ventory emerged as the winner due to the easy applicability of its web application, successful implementation at logistics service provider DHL, and strategic collaboration with service provider Capgemini to offer the solution as a valuable addition to existing implementations, including SAP.
Ellen Malfliet, the company’s operational manager (photo), was delighted by Ventory’s win and thanked Supply Chain Media for organizing the competition and providing necessary attention to start-ups. The prize for Ventory includes a marketing campaign worth €20,000 through various media channels of Supply Chain Media.
Comprehensive selection process
During the inNOWvate Supply Chain Event, each of the three finalists delivered a 3-minute pitch on the main stage. An experienced jury interviewed the founders of the start-ups about their business model, solution, and team structure. The jury considered the audience votes for their final decision. The four-member jury consisted of Joost Bous (former supply chain director of Action), Mathias Bosse (Founding Partner of Prequel Ventures and Founder of Supply Chain Management Startups), Jean-Baptiste Clouard (CEO and founder of Flowlity, winner of this competition in 2021), and Martijn Lofvers (CEO & Chief Trendwatcher at Supply Chain Media).
RTI Blockchain chosen as the most promising supply chain scale-up
In a separate contest held in parallel during the inNOWvate Supply Chain Event, the most promising supply chain scale-up was announced. One of the main criteria for a business to be considered a scale-up is that it is a young company that has raised more than €2 million in capital. The Dutch scale-up StoreShippers received the most votes from the online audience for its independent solution to measure supply chain-related carbon emissions, thus defeating fellow finalists Carbmee from Germany and Shipnext from Belgium. StoreShippers won a media campaign worth €10,000 across the various media channels of organizer Supply Chain Media.
Alongside the start-up contest, three scale-ups also competed for the audience award during the inNOWvate Supply Chain Event. The Dutch scale-up RTI Blockchain received the majority of the audience votes for its innovative solution to fully automate the administration of pallets and other load carriers, as well as financial transactions. This scale-up surpassed the other two finalists: Garvis from Belgium with a planning solution integrated with ChatGPT, and Sweep from France with a comprehensive CO2 administration solution. RTI Blockchain won a media campaign worth €10,000, which will be deployed through the various media channels of Supply Chain Media.
Since 2018, Supply Chain Media has been researching and positioning young companies from across Europe in the Maturity Matrix of European supply chain start-ups, featuring ten different categories of supply chain solutions. The start-ups and scale-ups published in the Maturity Matrix are also eligible for the contests.
For the sixth consecutive year, Supply Chain Media has published its Maturity Matrix of European start-ups and scale-ups that were founded a maximum of five years ago. In the matrix, the maturity of these young companies is based on age, number of employees, awards won, number of customers and, most importantly, capital raised. They are divided into ten solution categories: Supplier Management, Supply Chain Sustainability, Ocean/Air Freight Forwarding, Inventory Counting & Process Optimization, Tracking & Tracing, Supply Chain Blockchain, Demand Planning & Forecasting, Transportation Planning & Visibility, Road Freight Matching and Last Mile Delivery. This year, there are a remarkable number of new entrants in the Demand Planning & Forecasting category, all of which are applying machine learning (ML) or other artificial intelligence (AI) in their solutions. Start-ups are also increasingly focusing on a variety of digital solutions for sustainability.
The Maturity Matrix for Supply Chain Start-ups in Europe comprises ten different categories of solutions, stretching from supplier management upstream in the chain to last-mile delivery on the customer side. The horizontal axis indicates for each category whether the solution is intended for a single stock keeping unit (SKU), a parcel, a pallet or a complete container of goods. The vertical axis of the matrix shows a company’s maturity based on its age, number of employees, awards won, number of customers, and capital raised.
More recordings of previous editions of inNOWvate Supply Chain Event are available on the YouTube channel of Supply Chain Movement: