With $3.35M in Seed Funding, Bext360 Applies Its Blockchain, IoT and Artificial Intelligence Technology to New Verticals Including Cocoa, Nuts, Minerals, Seafood, Cotton, Timber and Palm Oil
DENVER, June 01, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bext360, a company that develops technologies to streamline critical supply chains in emerging economies, today announced that has closed $2.15M in additional seed funding, for a total of $3.35M in total funding to-date. The company, which creates technology to analyze and trace commodities from producer to consumer, will be using the additional funding to expand into new verticals, including cotton, palm oil, cocoa, nuts, seafood and timber. SKS Ventures led the seed-funding round, with participation from Plug and Play Ventures, as well as individual angel investors.
Bext360, which launched in April 2017, was recently named as one of Gartner’s 2018 Cool Vendors in Corporate Social Responsibility Across the Supply Chain. The company offers traceability Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, focusing on critical supply chains -- providing a traceable fingerprint to track products from producer to consumer. Additionally, the company produces the BextMachine, which leverages machine vision and artificial intelligence, IoT and blockchain technology from Stellar.org, to collect and analyze coffee cherries from its source through the supply chain, make electronic payments to coffee farmers, as well as provide complete traceability and critical data to improve the quality of the coffee supply chain.
Although Bext360’s technology can be applied to a range of commodities, the company has been focused on the coffee industry for the last 12 months, as it is one of the world’s top traded commodities. In the last year, Bext360 has landed partnerships with Caravela Coffee, Frinj Coffee, Counter Culture, Moyee Coffee, Great Lakes Coffee and Coda Coffee, and has already successfully completed full production programs with Moyee Coffee, Great Lakes Coffee and Coda Coffee.
Due to growing partner interest from companies from different verticals, as well as hitting several milestones in the coffee vertical, Bext360 will now be expanding into new verticals, including minerals, cocoa (valued at nearly $10 billion globally in 2017), nuts (valued at $20.30 billion globally in 2017), seafood (valued at over $200 billion in the US in 2015), cotton (valued at $77 billion globally in 2015), timber (valued at $35 billion globally in 2017) and palm oil (valued at $65.73 billion globally in 2015). The company is in the process of developing new patent-pending technology to analyze and trace these new commodities and will be announcing partnerships in these new verticals. Additionally, the company has been selected for the Fashion for Good scaling program, which works with Plug and Play Ventures, to give promising startups access to its expertise and expansive network of brands, producers, retailers, and suppliers to help them grow.
“Traceability is now taking a center stage as a vital component of the supply chain process for all consumer good companies,” said Bext360 CEO Daniel Jones. “In fact, consumer demand for information transparency has become critical to a company’s ability to compete in the market. From a corporate social responsibility standpoint, global organizations want to be able to provide the level of traceability that consumers are demanding, but have not had the technology platform to do so, up until now. We’re excited to be stepping into this next phase of growth for Bext360, and look forward to working with our partners to help create custom technology solutions to enable their customers to understand the true origin, quality and sustainability attributes of the products that they purchase, whether it’s their coffee, seafood, or a new piece of clothing.”
About Bext360
Bext360 develops technologies that strengthen local businesses and communities in emerging economies by increasing access to capital and streamlining critical supply chains. Bext360’s platform revolutionizes supply chains with IoT, blockchain, machine vision and artificial intelligence, while bringing consumers and farming communities together to improve product quality, community livelihoods and the consumer experience. Bext360 technology builds upon the fundamental shift in mobile access, microfinance, and mobile/digital payments in developing countries. A guiding principle of Bext360 is to build community by enabling buyers and other organizations with direct paths to improve the quality of both the product and the communities that produce their goods, whether it is coffee, seafood, cotton, to palm oil. For more, please visit www.bext360.com.
Press Contact:
Kim Vu
kim@bext360.com