Tilkal, the software infrastructure for traceability and transparency in supply chains, has announced that it has raised €3.5m from Breega (lead investor), Ventech and business angels. This funding will enable Tilkal to become one of Europe's leading traceability operators.
A GROWING LOSS OF CONSUMER TRUST
There's a simple reason for this. The loss of consumer confidence has become a real challenge for manufacturers: 75% of consumers say they no longer have confidence in the products they buy, and only 28% trust brands, a phenomenon amplified by health crises that are less and less tolerated, and more generally by the development of illicit trade (counterfeiting, grey markets, non-compliant ingredients, child labour, etc.).
As a result, product traceability has become the number one challenge facing supply chains and needs to be thoroughly rethought.
The solution developed by Tilkal provides a global response that enables companies to move from a static, one-off analysis of specifications to a dynamic, ongoing analysis of practices and exchanges between manufacturers.
A SOFTWARE INFRASTRUCTURE SERVING TRANSPARENCY THANKS TO BLOCKCHAIN AND BIG DATA
By combining blockchain and big data analysis, Tilkal makes it possible to reconstruct and control the entire product life cycle.
The infrastructure brings stakeholders together in a real-time product traceability network, from production to distribution. Tilkal provides each party with a supply chain 'control tower' for end-to-end analysis, as well as transparency tools for end customers (mobile applications).
With Tilkal, critical processes such as product recalls can be made more reliable, and consumers can choose their products on the basis of engaging information, with confidence and awareness.
ONE OF THE VERY FIRST BLOCKCHAIN-BASED TRACEABILITY SOLUTIONS DEPLOYED IN FRANCE
Together with Groupe Casino and several cooperatives, Tilkal has implemented traceability for over 8 million products a year currently available in shops (honey, poultry and eggs). Tilkal is also present in around ten other agri-food sectors, including pork, fresh produce transport, infant milk and food supplements. Projects are underway in the catering sector and other industries.
"Tilkal was originally born out of a commitment by Joseph Azar, Sébastien Gaïde and myself to contribute to a more ethical and responsible economy. This commitment is echoed by our customers, who legitimately want to differentiate themselves by demonstrating their end-to-end industrial expertise. Today, to continue to innovate and develop, we are counting on financial partners like Breega and Ventech, who are committed, ambitious and have the capacity to support us in our development to serve the agri-food sector, and then towards other industries". - Matthieu Hug, CEO and co-founder of Tilkal.
"Traceability and transparency are issues with which we are very familiar at Breega. The solution developed by Tilkal takes into account the essential issues of node location and network governance. In this way, we maintain the balance between the various players involved. It is essential to ensure that blockchain does not allow a single player to appropriate the data of an entire sector." - Maximilien Bacot, Partner at Breega.
"Tilkal offers a solution for processing and sharing industrial data in the agri-food sector. As a European player, it gives them control and sovereignty over this data, which is a key differentiator. The stakes are comparable to those for personal data". - Claire Houry, General Partner at Ventech.