The Hague, 12 September 2016 – InnovationQuarter and informal investor Paul van Keep, co-founder of Exact Software, are jointly investing in Tradecloud, an innovative online supply chain platform for manufacturing companies and technical wholesalers. The investment will help Tradecloud achieve a leading market position in the Dutch manufacturing sector and prepare the Delft-based company for international growth.
Better insight into chain of suppliers
Francis Quint, Head of InnovationQuarter Capital, announced the investment during the regional development agency’s annual BBQ event. Quint said, “Thanks to the investment from InnovationQuarter and Paul van Keep, Tradecloud will now be able to speed up the expansion of its supply chain platform, help users achieve better results and begin its international growth. We are really excited that Tradecloud is helping the Dutch manufacturing sector to remain competitive.”
Businesses currently using the platform include manufacturing companies, such as Quooker, Van Raam bikes, Agrifac Machinery and Nooteboom trailers, as well as technical wholesalers, including ERIKS, Intersafe and ES Elektro. By sharing real-time information about orders, deliveries and items, these companies now have much better insight into their chain of suppliers, which allows them to respond to market changes more rapidly. They are also able to reduce physical order handling by up to 25 per cent.
Supply chain platform for the mid-market segment
Founded in 2013, Tradecloud is based within the tech incubator YES!Delft and focuses on the mid-market segment. The company’s target group finds existing solutions less appealing due to higher costs and the complexity involved. Within this B2B market, Tradecloud is the only standardised supply chain platform offered as a cloud solution.
Informal investor Paul van Keep has a lot of confidence in the young company and explains, “Tradecloud is on the threshold of a successful growth period, with many international opportunities. I’m happy to offer them my support and invest in the company along with InnovationQuarter.”
Tradecloud’s online platform makes it simple for manufacturing companies and technical wholesalers to integrate purchasing and sales processes directly with their customers and suppliers. Rather than communicating with suppliers by using traditional email, order and delivery messages take place directly via Tradecloud’s platform. All parties in the distribution chain thus receive their information from a single central location.
Sustainable competitive advantage thanks to a collaborative chain
As partners in the chain share information online, suppliers can keep lower stock levels and are able to better plan production. The ability to predict needs is optimised, turnaround times can therefore be shortened and changing market circumstances can be responded to more rapidly. Partners are also able to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage by being part of a fully integrated and strong chain of suppliers and buyers.
Tonnis de Boer, Managing Director of Tradecloud: “It’s a simple yet powerful idea: all business-to-business information is central and transparent for those who need it. As there is only one version of ‘the truth’, processes can be fully optimised.”
Tradecloud offers modules for purchase orders, central item management, deliveries, incoming invoices and forecasts. All well-known administrative software packages that companies use to plan their stock and orders, such as SAP, Microsoft Dynamics and Exact, can be linked to the platform using standard connectors. This means Tradecloud can be implemented very quickly.
