Volta, the Shopify for B2B transactions, raises the largest pre-seed round in Italy
Volta, a new startup with a team split between two headquarters in Milan and Paris, has received a pre-seed round of 6 million euros ($6.3 million) to develop a new vertical software-as-a-service platform focused on B2B sales.
In practical terms, the Volta team positions their product as the equivalent of Shopify but with a focus on B2B transactions. While Shopify, the ecommerce giant that helps people create an online store and sell things to consumers easily, offers a B2B commerce platform, Volta thinks there is an advantage in creating a company that focuses more on B2B commerce.
According to Volta, most retail and distribution companies in Europe still use paper catalogs and rely on manual order processing.
When they go to trade shows and meet with potential customers in their offices, these companies often come across several versions of their paper catalogs. Depending on the client and the context, it doesn’t want to show the same list of items and values.
That’s why Volta wants to simplify the catalog management process. However, the company does not want to replace the good old business resource management system. Once the purchase order is signed, the transaction is then processed through ERP.
But everything that happens before the transaction is likely to be handled by Volta. Companies can upload their existing catalog from Excel files or from their ERP system. They can check that the taxonomy column is correct and import everything into Volta.
After that, employees can create catalogs from the Volta interface, share them with potential customers, track current conversations, and update orders later. Price and inventory data are constantly synchronized with ERP.
“The B2C sector has evolved rapidly, with digital platforms replacing paper catalogs and delivering integrated e-commerce solutions. Meanwhile, B2B operations are nearly 15 years behind, still burdened by outdated processes,” founder and CEO Paul Guillemin said in a statement.
Volta also allows you to manage customers directly from the platform interface. Users can create company profiles, create categories, and group clients into different categories. “That only covers 20% of what you can do with Salesforce, but it’s still good enough for most companies,” Guillemin told TechCrunch.
In the future, you can think of many products and features that can be useful for these large and medium-sized distribution companies. Volta can add logistics and financing options. The idea is that once companies start using Volta, they see the value of managing a catalog on a SaaS platform and start using Volta for other features.
This pre-seed round represents Italy’s first major pre-seed round. And part of the reason why the startup was able to secure 6 million euros right out of the gate is because of the founding team.
Guillemin, the company’s founder and CEO, previously founded Fretlink, a road freight startup that raised tens of millions of euros but didn’t pan out as expected. The company had to go through a court order suspension after the bankruptcy process.
Mario Parteli, co-founder and CEO, previously founded Abiby, a cosmetics and beauty subscription box company. He spent 15 years working in the technology industry at Facile.it, Rocket Internet, and more. The duo are aiming to achieve their first major success with the Volta.
Emblem, a new European VC company, is leading the pre-seed round with other funds and a number of angel investors also participating, such as Robin Capital, Founders Future, Sequoia, and a16z with their pilot programs, Berlusconi investment firms. the Agnelli family or family, and others.
