The supply chain professions are vast, not always easy to map and strangely, they do not always know each other very well. However, nothing in the global economy would be done without our professions. When, with SprintProject we began to map innovation in our sector, we discovered major gaps between the different corporations that constitute the “chain”. Indeed, while some are already organized to prepare for the future of their professions, others are much further away.
For example, maritime transport professions. I recently listened to a speaker from Michelin who explained the number of players involved in managing the end-to-end transport of a batch of goods per container. And that, without mentioning the unknowns regarding the time, the price of the service, the route actually taken, etc.
Based on these observations, we are starting to come across many startups who are coming to attack, transform and digitalize these professions. This is typically the case with OVRSEA which I invite you to discover today.
Interview
SprintProject: Arthur, what is the'story of'OVRSEA?
We were customers of international freight forwarders but we did not understand what services we were paying for: traceability, simplicity and reporting, etc. were non-existent.
The processes mainly consisted of dozens of emails, telephones, paper documents or even faxes!
We have made this observation in the maritime sector, but also in the air sector on a smaller scale.
Over the years, historical players have implemented processes that have become too cumbersome for companies. These players have made a lot of effort to develop their service offering and their price competitiveness by abandoning cutting-edge IT developments.
Indeed, during the experiences we had with historical players, we noted that margins were under pressure and this did not allow historical players to really invest in digital.
Convinced that we could bring greater simplicity, transparency and reliability, we decided to launch our activity.
SprintProject: So what is the idea?
We have reinvented the profession of transport agent by digitalizing it.
We have developed a platform that supports all aspects of international transport:
- Quoting
- Booking
- Documentation management
- Real-time tracking
- Customs
- Billing
With our platform, our customers can import or export in just a few clicks to 60 countries around the world. We save them between 4 and 5 hours of management time for each transport.
It is thanks to the simplicity of our service and our platform that we support the export of successful French and European SMEs and mid-sized companies.
SprintProject: And today?
We primarily target companies with a turnover of between €20 and €200 million, between large SMEs and small ETIs.
We are mainly present in luxury, cosmetics and health and support beautiful brands with their imports or exports.
We have customers in France, but also in Belgium, the United Kingdom and even Mexico, China or the United States.
SprintProject:'what is the'future of OVRSEA?
We want to support larger clients and diversify into other industries. We already count among our clients two large international groups (+€1 billion in turnover) and will develop strongly in this segment in the coming months.
We know that the market is vast, €30 billion in France including €500 million in transatlantic flows (see Xerfi study).
Today we have around fifty clients, a team of around ten people and very strong growth. We plan to raise funds by the end of 2018.
For more information : www.ovrsea.com
SprintProject: With OVRSEA we see that no business world can bypass digitalization. Certainly, these new technologies and uses will shake up existing players. But won’t they lead to much better readability and ultimately better quality in the processes? History will tell us.
See you in 15 days for a new interview
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