Volta, a start-up, the brainchild of Mario Parteli and Paul Guillemin debuts on the market and announces that it has completed its first major funding round.
The track record of the founders and the ubiquity of the problem that Volta aims to solve because it impacts the BtoB sales of companies and distributors in every sector and country, is what turned the company’s first capital raising into the six million euro pre-seed round backed by major investors, both European and American.
Lead investor is Emblem, VC based in France joined by: Founders Future and Better Angle, also from France; Ithaca, B Heroes, Exor Venture, Alecla7, Eden Ventures by IAG from Italy; from Germany Robin Capital; from overseas the funds Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz A16z and Pareto20. There are also many business angels with significant experience in the relevant segment, including several founders of the Italian innovation ecosystem.
Mario and Paul, entrepreneurs with complementary experiences, after having come up against the inefficiencies of BtoB sales processes that generate problems, delays, and even order cancellations in any merchandise sector, and having identified the way to solve them, have developed the SaaS platform that, by replacing dated tools such as paper catalogues and files for manual order and stock management, breaks down barriers and timeframes in information sharing and allows sales processes to be redesigned with simplicity and efficiency. A platform with which Volta intends to transform the wholesale and distribution industry.
Mario Parteli, founder and co-CEO, (pictured with the other founder) says in a note: ‘In Italy, as in France and the rest of Europe, SMEs have very low digitisation rates. This is a serious problem for our economies, but also a great opportunity for those who want to take action to help support the competitiveness of companies and countries. We chose the area of BtoB trade, which we know very well, because technology and artificial intelligence are revolutionising it but many companies are struggling to digitise, losing opportunities and markets to more advanced competitors. Having experienced the problem first hand, we have worked to bring the digitisation of a complex process to brands, wholesalers and distributors in the only way we believe it can be embraced: with the power of simplicity, centralisation and evidence of the result. In front of us there is a huge potential market, including new generations, who need advanced solutions and measurable results. Volta is the solution’.
Volta, whose activities start in Italy and France, addresses a potential customer base of about two million companies in Europe, 90% of which are SMEs. Globally, for the already large market worth around USD 50 billion, further strong growth is expected over the next five years, characterised, as a key trend, by a focus on digital platforms and innovative services enabled by the use of data analysis and business intelligence solutions, as well as the integration of AI, according to ResearchandMarkets’ Wholesale Global Market Report 2024.
Volta provides a centralised platform enriched with artificial intelligence, with all the functionalities related to wholesale processes: from goods in stock to catalogues and orders, the keystone of the system.
Modular, intuitive and easy to integrate with existing systems, Volta simplifies sales, logistics, administration and inventory management into a unified workflow and enables companies or agents to automate order taking by eliminating the root of the problems generated by fragmented management.
At the same time, they offer their business and retail customers the same fast and seamless shopping experience that consumer e-commerce has accustomed the world to.
Added to this is a final key piece: automating but without compromising the personalisation of the deal, the heart of commerce, which is enhanced and accelerated through the use of AI, which integrates advanced data analytics into the platform to provide recommendations and alerts. This makes it possible to prioritise requests and orders, anticipate critical needs, optimise sales strategies in real time, even managing complex and customised pricing structures, and identify opportunities for growth among customers.
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