Towards a promising next step, Shipskart one of the pioneer e-procurement platforms of the maritime industry has raised an amount of US$225,000 as pre-series funding from Betatron.
A Venture Capital Firm & Startup Accelerator, Betatron, has recently ventured into investing in maritime startups and is ably supported by YPSN (The Young Professionals In Shipping Network) and Heron advisory.
Betarton was founded in 2016 by a group of leading Venture Capital firms in Hong Kong, including Mindworks Ventures, Vectr Ventures, Cocoon Ignite Ventures, the Aria Group, IC Studio, and Incu-Lab.
With this increased funding, Shipskart would continue to expand its global footprint by establishing aggregator centers in India and abroad.
Shipskart aims to improve the current status of the supply chain and procurement process in the maritime industry.
Today, most maritime and offshore companies use antiquated and manual methods for the entire procurement lifecycle. The procurement process is critical for the smooth and seamless operation of the thousands of vessels across the world. The procurement life cycle includes identifying goods, vendor qualification & validation, negotiation of contract terms, finalising of purchase order, delivery & audit of goods, receiving and processing payment and finally, returns and replacement. Even though these processes account for over 30-40% of the total operating cost, very few companies invest in making them efficient, trackable and predictable.
Shipskart Journey
Founded in 2018, Shipskart, has vendor partners in more than 50 countries worldwide. It has developed the first e-procurement platform dedicated to the maritime industry, along with the first procurement APP. Shipskart has offices in India, Dubai, The Netherlands, Singapore, and Bangladesh.
Message from the CEO
“Having been part of the maritime industry for the last 15 years, we understand that procurement is an extremely time-consuming process. This has led to Shipskart’s endeavors to bring all customers, vendors, and service providers on one platform, promoting free and fair business transactions,” says Dhruv Sawhney, CEO & Co-founder, Shipskart.
The global maritime procurement industry is valued at 100 billion USD. With the industry going through a digital transformation, Shipskart is using this opportunity to expand its footprint all across the world.
What the investors say
“Shipskart’s offering to ship owners & operators comes at an opportune time as the industry is embracing digital transformation.
With Betatron’s investment and network, we’re excited to help scale their e-procurement solution to key ports across Asia and beyond,” says Matthias Knobloch, Managing Partner of Betatron.
