Ydistri is a cloud app that can eliminate financial losses resulting from the so-called deadstock. It uses its own predictive and optimisation algorithm, which allows retailers to effectively send such a stock between the outlets within their outlet chain. The system identifies all overstocked products, finds the most suitable new store with a sufficient demand, and suggests the products to be transferred in bulk, as a single compact shipment. The solution is fully cloud-based, with no technological requirements, and can be implemented immediately.
Ydistry has completed a number of successful pilot projects involving multinational retail chains, with excellent results. Consequently, the company decided to accelerate its development, as well as strengthen its business activities and the acquisition of new clients, looking abroad for strategic investors. “Besides funds required for us to continue scaling the company, we wanted to gain strategic partners whose experience and connections could help us expand further,” said Roland Džogan, Ydistri’s CEO, about the new investments.
Falco Capital, a Swiss investment company headed by the former president and CEO of General Electric International Ferdinando “Nani” Falco Beccalli, and Marton Szoke, a successful Hungarian start-upper, venture investor, and the former CEO of Yahoo! Hungary Labs, have become strategic foreign investors expected to help the ambitious start-up strengthen its market position and accelerate its expansion abroad.
What should help Ydistri succeed across continents is the fact that the so-called deadstock is a global issue in retail, with high financial and environmental costs and no existing systemic solution. “Our team has the benefit of strong past experience with supply chain management and automated stock control. We know very well that deadstock in retail cannot be prevented entirely and that it isn’t easy to handle effectively. Our solution raises retailers’ net profits by 6–20% without requiring them to invest in new technologies or intervene in critical business procedures,” said Roland Džogan, Ydistri’s CEO, about the new investments.
Besides strategic foreign investors, Ydistri also enjoys strong support among the Czech investment scene; in addition to Nation 1, a well-known fund of Marek Moravec, a new venture studio of Michal Menšík and Zdeněk Šoustal will also aid Ydistri’s development. The start-up already caught V-Sharp’s eye before, when Menšík’s group became Ydistri’s first investor at the time of launch. Ydistri’s joining in V-Sharp Alpha should now promote the project’s further acceleration and systemic development.
“Ydistri is a good example of the kind of start-ups Alpha finds interesting. It’s a business with first-rate technology, focused on sustainability and solutions to ineffectiveness. Moreover, it can find interesting ways of using the synergy of our studio’s other start-ups, and in turn bring intriguing opportunities itself,” said V-sharp Alpha’s Mario Megela, an investment partner, about Ydistri’s joining in the new investment studio. “Nation 1 likes to promote domestic projects with global ambitions. Furthermore, Ydistri sets itself the goal of reducing wastage, and has technologies we believe could have a real impact on this field,” added Marek Moravec, the founder and partner of Nation 1.
At the moment, the company does business not only in Czechia and Slovakia, but also in Poland, Germany, and Hungary. It’s also successfully launching projects in South America and Russia. Its typical customer base includes chains of pharmacies, drug stores, or cosmetics stores. Its redistribution solution captured the interest of multinational retail chains, which find the issue of sustainably optimising inventories and logistics increasingly important, be it from the view of financial management or social responsibility. The investments will help continue the app’s technological development and strengthen Ydistri’s business teams in Europe, the USA, and Asia where the company has the great ambitions.