What were the key criteria for selecting the startups included in this year’s Top 50 Contech Startups list?
The selection process is based on several criteria and is decided by the Investment &  Business Development team. One of the strongest sources to build this list is the Construction Startup Competition, completed with the contributions from our investment and collaboration pipeline. We select startups with unique and innovative solutions that are aligned with Cemex Ventures’ four focus areas—green construction, enhanced productivity, supply chain, and construction future—and their potential to disrupt traditional practices of the construction industry. Overall, we aim to find passionate and resilient entrepreneurs and businesses that are covering the needs and challenges of the current built environment.

What major trends in construction technology stood out among the companies on the list this year?
This year, we saw a surge in solutions addressing the reduction of carbon footprint through sustainable materials (recycled and upcycled materials) and more efficient and productive construction processes.. There was also a noticeable rise in AI-driven tools for project management, project tracking, predictive analytics & maintenance, and automation, as well as advancements in industrialized construction methods and robotics to address labour shortages and efficiency gaps. Beyond our Top 50 report, we saw that 37% of all the capital raised in construction tech ecosystem went to AI, and the largest deals registered in 2024 went to solutions using AI.

Are there any regions or markets that showed a notable increase in innovation or representation in this year’s list compared to previous years?
North America and Europe continue leading the investment activity in our industry with 85% of all Contech transactions. From a deal perspective, Asia-Pacific showed significant growth in representations, with innovative startups tackling challenges unique to densely populated urban areas. Europe also strengthened its presence with growth across all the focus areas, although sustainability and productivity took 66% of the transactions. It seems that sustainability-driven solutions continue reflecting the region’s regulatory pressure to adopt and implement greener construction practices.

How many selected startups focus on sustainability, and what specific solutions stood out in addressing environmental challenges?
We try to build a balanced list of startups across our verticals every year. However, we see solutions from other buckets with a slight sustainability component, such as making processes efficient and greener by consuming fewer resources. In the Green Construction group, key innovations included CCUS technologies, LCA tools, AI tools for optimizing material usage, recycled construction materials and waste management, startups developing alternative cementitious materials and water efficiency & conservation.

With AI becoming increasingly integral, how are the listed startups leveraging artificial intelligence and automation to transform the construction industry?
AI is being used across various phases of the construction value chain, from generative design to predictive maintenance and real-time project monitoring. Many startups on the list leverage AI to optimize workflows, improve safety through automated risk assessments, and reduce project delays by predicting supply chain bottlenecks. Likewise, automation is particularly prevalent in robotics for tasks like bricklaying, 3D printing, site inspections or rebar works. 

Which startups or categories on the list do you see as having the highest investment potential or the greatest impact in the near future?
Startups focused on the sustainability, decarbonization and supply chain efficiency fields stand out for their investment potential, given the pressing demand for tackling industry´s carbon footprint, resource optimization, regulatory pressure and meet carbon budgets and targets. Specifically, those developing low-carbon materials, energy-efficient technologies, and AI-driven supply chain platforms are likely to have the greatest near-term impact. Lastly, the race for full automated sites has started, startups succeeding in automation lowering actual costs and increasing production will also take investors’ attention.

Are any of the startups from the list currently collaborating with Cemex Ventures, and if so, can you share examples of these partnerships?
All the startups included in the list are (or has been) part of our pipeline. While all these companies can benefit from our knowledge, our extensive network, or programs like the Construction Startup Competition, we prioritize those solutions whose vision is aligned with Cemex´s strategic needs and those that can help our operations to be more sustainable and efficient making our corporation more reliable and competitive. For example, some of these startups have participated in our acceleration program LeapLab, others are already collaborating with our operations and others are working with our Global R&D team.

Based on the innovations showcased, what do you see as the most significant opportunities and challenges for Contech in the next 5-10 years?
The most promising opportunities lie in addressing our industry decarbonization challenges throughout the entire construction lifecycle. The optimization of processes to make construction sites leaner and agile performing tasks on time and on budget will continue with capital inflows in the next years. Advances in AI, robotics, and industrialized construction will help to achieve this level of optimization. However, challenges include the slow adoption rate of new technologies due to the fragmented nature of the industry, regulatory hurdles, materials scarcity or the need for substantial investment to scale these solutions globally.

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The new funding will accelerate Locad’s international expansion, starting with UAE and Saudi Arabia in Q4 2024 as part of its ‘Grow Global, Go Local’ strategy for brands; and will also be used to enhance Locad’s AI-driven smart logistics capabilities. Locad is on a mission to build the supply chain infrastructure of modern commerce connecting brands to consumers in growth markets with a global cloud supply chain as-a-service

Locad’s cloud supply chain enables smart digital logistics and open commerce for consumer brands through an integrated operating system and supply chain infrastructure as a service: Locad allows brands to connect all sales channels in Ecommerce and Retail to a single pool of inventory and a smart logistics network, managed through its Control Tower orchestration platform that provides real time visibility, analytics, and ai enhanced workflow automation.

Constantin Robertz, CEO and Co-Founder of Locad, said: “We are on a mission to enable smart digital logistics for consumer brands. Over the last four years we have built a cloud supply chain platform in APAC that allows brands to unify their omnichannel distribution and access localized fulfillment in growth markets of SEA and AU. We are now excited to take Locad global, opening our presence in the US and entering the GCC, to make it easier for brands to sell anywhere with a fully localised customer experience.

“We are excited to bring our smart digital logistics engine to the GCC, so consumer brands can excel in this fast-growing market. We also welcome Dario La Torre as GCC – Regional Director. Dario has vast experience in cross-border e-commerce and logistics – which will catalyze our expansion and is the perfect addition to our senior team.”

With its launch in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Locad will enable GCC-based brands to scale in one of the world’s most dynamic e-commerce markets, via (i) its network of four regional fulfillment centers (ii) a robust shipping engine optimized for local carriers, and (iii) seamless integration with major local sales channels. In parallel, international brands seeking GCC entry and growth with a local presence can now use Locad as a gateway, with in-country fulfillment and shipping.

Noor Sweid, Founder and Managing Partner of Global Ventures, commented: “We are delighted to lead Locad’s funding round. Locad’s innovative engine is transforming how brands manage their supply chains and enabling faster, more efficient customer reach – aligning with our thesis on the need for decentralized and resilient supply chains to meet today’s consumer demands.

“Locad is a prime example of this shift – offering a localized, efficient solution that aligns with our vision for the future of supply chains.  We are confident Locad is well-positioned to capitalize on opportunities in rapidly evolving markets like MENA, embodying the future of agile and sustainable logistics.”

Marc Dragon, Managing Director of Reefknot Investments, commented: “At Reefknot, we are excited to co-lead this oversubscribed funding round and deepen our commitment to Locad as they expand their global reach and impact. Since our Series A investment, Locad has demonstrated a strong ability to execute, scaling their asset-light fulfillment model across markets in Southeast Asia, Australia, and China, while continuously deepening their product capabilities with AI-driven features such as demand, inventory and carrier analytics & optimization.

We are confident that Locad’s global expansion, combined with their dedication to product, technology, and service quality and innovation, will create exceptional value for brands aiming to grow overseas and elevate their respective customer experience.”

Shrey Jain, Co-Founder and CTO of Locad, stated: “By integrating smart digital logistics with AI-driven insights, we empower brands to optimize their supply chains—placing inventory closer to demand, reducing delivery times, and enhancing customer satisfaction. This fundraise allows us to double down on building a robust, tech-enabled logistics ecosystem that drives efficiency and helps brands thrive in an increasingly dynamic commerce landscape.”

Jannis Dargel, Co-Founder and COO of Locad, stated: “For brands, unifying inventory across sales channels in ecommerce and retail leads to higher revenue and faster sell-through; and localized fulfillment and delivery allows brands to increase conversion rates and improve customer experience.”

Dario La Torre, GCC Regional Director of Locad, stated: “I am thrilled to join Locad to drive our expansion in the GCC. With our innovative logistics engine and local expertise, we are ready to supercharge growth for brands across this dynamic region.”

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Qara’s unique features provide producers with a seamless, end-to-end digital ecosystem, allowing them to authenticate and trace their products all the way to the end consumers, connect with the whole supply chain, and use AI to make data-driven decisions. It has successfully collaborated with over 35 manufacturers and product suppliers to authenticate over 28 million product units and connected them with over 50,000 business users across the supply chain in Egypt, KSA & Kenya

Commenting on the funding round, Co-Founder and CEO of Qara, Hassan Abouzeed, stated, “I believe the challenges we’re addressing meet a significant global demand. After three years of a successful product-market fit in Egypt, Qara is now ready for international expansion. We are excited that our first step is into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where what we do aligns perfectly with the Saudi Vision 2030 objectives to foster value creation through innovation and technology.

“Our aim is to revolutionize manufacturers’ B2B2C marketing and distribution capabilities through innovative digital solutions. Qara’s team believes in the economic and social value our platform brings by verifying product authenticity, providing supply chain visibility, eliminating redundancies, and delivering better outcomes for every participant in our ecosystem,” Abouzeed added.

Qara’s offerings include innovative apps such as “Asly” which enables users to verify the authenticity by scanning unique QR codes on products. This solution helps companies combat counterfeiting, safeguard their revenue, and build customer trust. Asly also enhances the customer experience by allowing brands to share detailed product information and updates, and implement warranties directly within the app, making it a powerful tool for both securing brand integrity and building customer loyalty.

Khaled Hassan, CTO and Co-Founder of Qara, shared his perspective on the company’s technological direction, “At Qara, our focus is on developing solutions that are scalable, secure, and adaptable to the changing demands of the global supply chains. Our technology not only tackles counterfeiting but also provides businesses with real-time insights, enabling smarter, data-driven decisions. This funding will help us speed up the development of these innovations and extend our influence across the region.”

Qara had successful partnerships with major clients. Aly H. El Sewedy, Vice President at Energya Industries, highlighted that “Qara is reshaping the supply chain landscape in the MEA region. Their technology and strategic expansion into KSA align perfectly with the region’s digital transformation goals. As a leader in manufacturing with over 80 years of history, we are thrilled to support a visionary team that is poised to set new industry standards and drive transformative economic progress.”

Ahmed Rabie, former CEO of Wadi Group and Milano Group states that “Qara is playing a central role in the digital transformation of the company’s supply chain. Above all, I believe that Qara’s work in areas such as food security brings a public utility that extends beyond the benefits it brings to its individual partners”.

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Founded in April 2023, Lumi AI is on an ambitious mission to democratise access to data, insights, and predictive analytics. By equipping businesses with the ability to generate custom reports and run statistical models using plain language, Lumi AI is poised to redefine how organisations interact with their data.

“Lumi AI is born out of an understanding that SQL and Python skills should not be a barrier to data-driven decision making. We’ve engineered Lumi to seamlessly convert plain language into invaluable business insights, democratising access to data and enabling a future where everyone can make informed, strategic decisions,” stated Ibrahim Ashqar, CEO of Lumi AI.

In just three months, Lumi AI has demonstrated its value in the market. The company launched a successful beta product, enlisted five UAE-based customers, and even helped one user identify a $1.5M inventory issue, confirming the platform’s immense potential.

“There is a lack of data talent resulting in data backlogs that slow the speed of great decision making. Lumi helps teams get the data they need instantaneously through its always-on AI data assistant, an expert in all aspects of the supply chain. Data teams benefit too as they get to focus on the highly technical strategic work they love doing.” – Maia Benson, Managing Director at Forum Ventures.

Lumi AI’s core technology comprises proprietary algorithms and workflows capable of understanding enterprise operational systems and transforming vague user prompts into high-quality, AI-friendly instructions. This advanced approach minimises AI hallucinations, offering an unparalleled level of accuracy and utility.

“Lumi is designed to mimic a human data analyst — it seeks clarifications when needed, explains the logic it used to generate insights, and flags data quality issues when it encounters them,” says Tudor Boiangiu, CTO of Lumi AI.

The founding team at Lumi AI comprises seasoned data and AI professionals, each with a track record of developing numerous enterprise-grade data and AI products designed to optimise and automate supply chain operations. Their collective expertise, honed in senior leadership roles at unicorn tech startups, top-tier consulting firms, and multinational corporations, positions them uniquely to revolutionise business intelligence for companies operating within physical supply chains.

The funding will be instrumental in propelling Lumi AI’s next phase of growth. It will fuel the development of its unique platform and scale its go-to-market team, preparing the company for its full platform launch in the fall.

As the startup continues to gain momentum, its vision of becoming an AI-powered personal data analyst for businesses worldwide is quickly becoming a reality.

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The seed round raised $5 million from leading investors, including DIV Capital, Shurfah, Core Vision, Purity for Information Technology, and prominent family offices in KSA such as Altoukhi Family Office and Bakr Family Office, along with angel investors. The funds raised will be used to expand NOMU’s B2B HORECA offering, with a specific focus on restaurants and financing solutions. NOMU plans to develop a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution and an AI assistant procurement officer chatbot. The company places a strong emphasis on sustainability and healthy unit economics, with two markets already achieving profitability.

Since its inception in 2022, NOMU has experienced rapid expansion and currently operates in four countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco. The company has aggressive plans to expand into 50 cities/towns by 2025. Remarkably, NOMU has already proven a positive cashflow business model, recorded 10x revenue growth within 12 months and gross margins are above healthy sustainable levels, NOMU has established strategic international partnerships with industry giants such as Savola and Procter & Gamble.

“We are thrilled with the overwhelming support we have received from our investors, both in terms of funding and strategic partnerships,” said Shehab Mokhtar, Co-Founder and CEO of NOMU Group. “This seed round allows us to strengthen our B2B HORECA offering, invest in cutting-edge technology, and expand into new markets. NOMU is committed to revolutionizing the food-tech supply chain, providing greater convenience and efficiency for businesses in the MENA region.”

NOMU’s successful seed funding round marks a significant milestone in the company’s journey to transform the F&B supply chain. With its strong financial backing, strategic partnerships, efficient centralized OPEX and visionary leadership, NOMU Group is poised to reshape the industry and drive innovation throughout the region.

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2023 is poised to start with a bang. The consumer is resilient. Travel is booming. Supply chains are improving. Shipping costs are moderating. The pandemic is easing. E-commerce marketplaces are accelerating. New online and in-store experiences are once again in focus. And in a recent study conducted with EnsembleIQ in partnership with AWS, 87% of retail tech leaders shared that they expect to maintain or increase tech budget spend in 2023. Here are five retail trends to consider in 2023:

1. Retail media networks
A retail media network is a form of advertising that allows retailers to monetize their first-party data to better serve consumers with more relevant offers as they shop in digital and physical stores and through email/SMS, for example.

Retail media is an attractive business opportunity for many retailers where they display brand ads in store or on apps and e-commerce sites, or shared via external channels such as social media platforms. This is an exciting space to watch and one in which there may be plenty of innovation in the coming months.

Coresight Research estimates that the global retail media industry will total $75.1 billion in 2022, up 80.1% from 2021, making it one of the fastest-growing advertising channels. According to a survey conducted by McKinsey in June 2022, 82% of advertisers plan to increase their retail media spending in the next 12 months.

2. Frictionless
In the last 12-18 months, there has been a dramatic increase in new product and service offerings enabling a differentiated in-store physical shopping experience. We are in the early days of “frictionless” in-store retail experiences.

As tech investments in infrastructure bandwidth and computer vision continue to accelerate along with cloud capabilities linked to store systems, expect frictionless capabilities to advance quickly. New stores will be the focus where infrastructure can easily be installed prior to build-out.

3. Immersive
In a recent study conducted with EnsembleIQ on immersive commerce, 77% of respondents indicated that they are familiar with immersive retail. In this study, immersive retail was defined as enhancement of consumer shopping experiences with technological features in-store (e.g., with apps, QR codes, augmented reality, interactive displays, etc.) and/or online (e.g., with virtual try-ons, 3D product previews, etc.).

The consumer survey by Epson revealed that experientialism is crucial to changing shoppers’ behaviour and could even see them seek out more in-store shopping if it offered an immersive experience. 92% of respondents in UAE indicated they would change their shopping behaviour if more shopping destinations had an experiential element, rising to 94% of Generation Z and 93% of Millennials. The study also revealed that such experiences in retail stores would attract increased spending.

Coresight Research estimated that the value of retail sales in the metaverse and virtual stores to reach nearly $1B in 2030, with a significant early-adopter ramp between 2024-2026. Expect retailers to investigate and test in 2023.

4. Customer 360 (and thus customer data platform)
A Customer Data Platform (CDP) is a technology platform that creates a persistent, unified customer view (aka a single view of customer activity — customer 360). Data is pulled from multiple sources, cleaned, and combined to create a single customer profile.

The customer 360 and CDP topics are front and center in retail today as retailers define strategies to manage customer data either with a centralized agency or bring back in-house to manage as part of a broader loyalty offering. CDPs are powering new loyalty strategies, solutions, and programs given the opportunity to know the customer, serve them where they stand, learn from them, and keep them engaged across channels and outlets. Expect the CDP solution focus to continue into 2023.

5. Supply chain level-up
Retailers in 2023 will have the opportunity to take advantage of cost advantages in the supply chain. Retailers will also focus on supply chain “resilience” in 2023 — resilience: the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties. Bottom line, supply chain remains No. 1 or No. 2 on the executive priority list in 2023.

Journey to the cloud
To unlock the potential of digital commerce, retailers are seeking a fresh approach — and this will require new technologies and a new digital architecture, largely leveraging modern cloud-based solutions and services.

The goal of every retailer is to provide the best possible shopping experience by reducing friction throughout the customer journey and merging traditionally distinct channels so customers can move seamlessly between them. This has long been the promise of “omnichannel” and it is key to building an agile and cost-effective digital commerce solution. Adopting composable and headless apps, powered by microservices, helps retailers unify and personalize the shopper experience, reduce maintenance costs, and gain greater business agility and innovation at scale.

Wojustin Honaman leads the worldwide Retail and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Go-to-Market team at Amazon Web Services (AWS). He is also the worldwide segment leader for Food & Beverage. His team’s focus within CPG and Retail is on delivering supply chain, ecommerce, data, analytics, and digital engagement business solutions for customers globally.

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Due to cyberattacks, businesses may lose confidential information, finances, valuable market share – and there are plenty of ways criminals are trying to reach their goals. Small enterprises consider a cybersecurity incident as one of the most challenging types of crises. Kaspersky experts analyzed vulnerable points SMB might have and outlined some major cyberthreats for entrepreneurs that they must be aware of in 2023.

1. Data leaks caused by employees
There are different ways a company’s data may be leaked – and, in certain cases, it might happen involuntarily. During the pandemic, many remote workers used corporate computers for entertainment purposes, such as playing online games, watching movies, or use e-learning platforms – something that continues to pose financial threats to organizations. This trend is here to stay, and while during 2020, 46% of employees had never worked remotely before, now two-thirds of them state they wouldn’t go back to the office, with the rest claiming to have a shorter office work week.

The level of cybersecurity after the pandemic and initial adoption of remote work by organizations en masse has improved. Nevertheless, corporate computers used for entertainment purposes remain one of the most important ways to get initial access to a company’s network. Looking for alternative sources to download an episode of a show or a newly released film, users encounter various types of malware, including Trojans, spyware and backdoors, as well as adware. According to Kaspersky statistics, 35% of users who faced threats under the guise of streaming platforms were affected by Trojans. If such malware ends up on a corporate computer, attackers could even penetrate the corporate network and search for and steal sensitive information, including both business development secrets and employees’ personal data.

Also, there’s a tendency to blame ex-workers of possible data leaks. However, only half of recently surveyed organizations’ leaders are confident that ex-employees don’t have access to company data stored in cloud services or can’t use corporate accounts. An ex-colleague may not even remember they had access to such-and-such resource. But a routine check by those same regulators might reveal that unauthorized persons do in fact have access to confidential information, which would still result in a fine.

2. DDoS attacks
Distributed Network Attacks are often referred to as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. This type of attack takes advantage of the specific capacity limits that apply to any network resources – such as the infrastructure that enables a company’s website. The DDoS attack will send multiple requests to the attacked web resource – with the aim of exceeding the website’s capacity to handle multiple requests and prevent the website from functioning correctly.

Attackers resort to different sources to perform acts on organizations such as banks, media assets, or retailers – all frequently affected by DDoS attacks. Recently, cybercriminals targeted the German food delivery service, Takeaway.com (Lieferando.de), demanding two bitcoins (approximately $11,000) to stop the flood of traffic. Moreover, DDoS attacks on online retailers tend to spike during holiday seasons, when their customers are most active.

There’s also a growing trend towards gaming companies gaining scale. The North American data centers of Final Fantasy 14 were attacked in early August. Players experienced connection, login, and data-sharing issues. Blizzard’s multiplayer games — Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Diablo: Immortal — were also DDoSed yet again.

Many DDoS attacks go unreported, because the payout amounts are often not terribly big.

3. Supply chain
Being attacked through a supply chain typically means a service or program that an organization has been using for some time has become malicious. These are attacks delivered through the company’s vendors or suppliers – the examples can include financial institutions, logistics partners, or even a food delivery service. And such actions may vary in its complexity or destructiveness.

For example, attackers used ExPetr (aka NotPetya) to compromise the automatic update system of accounting software called M.E.Doc, forcing it to deliver the ransomware to all customers. As a result, ExPetr caused millions in losses, infecting both large companies and small businesses.

Another example is CCleaner, one of the most famous programs for system registry cleaning. It is widely used by both home users and system administrators. At some point, attackers compromised the program developer’s compilation environment, equipping several versions with a backdoor. For a month these compromised versions were distributed from the company’s official websites, and downloaded 2.27 million times, and at least 1.65 million copies of the malware attempted to communicate with the criminals’ servers.

4. Malware
If one downloads illegitimate files, they have to make sure these files do no harm. The most emerging threats are the encryptors that chase a company’s data, money, or even personal information of its owners. To support this, it’s worth to mention that more than a quarter of small and medium-sized businesses opt for pirated, or unlicensed software to cut costs. Such software may include some malicious or unwanted files that may exploit corporate computers and networks.

Additionally, business owners must be aware of access brokers as such layers of groups will cause SMBs harm in a variety of ways in 2023. Their illegal-access customers include cryptojacking clients, banking password stealers, ransomware, cookie stealers, and other problematic malware. One of the examples is Emotet, malware that steals banking credentials and targets organizations around the world. Another group that targets small and medium-size businesses is DeathStalker, best known for its attacks on legal, financial and travel entities. The group’s main goals rely on looting confidential information regarding legal disputes involving VIPs and large financial assets, competitive business intelligence as well as insights into mergers and acquisitions.

5. Social engineering
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies have moved much of their workflows online and learned to use new collaboration tools. In particular, Microsoft’s Office 365 suite has seen a lot more use — and, to no one’s surprise, phishing now increasingly targets those user accounts. Scammers have been resorting to all sorts of tricks to get business users to enter their passwords on a website made to look like Microsoft’s sign-in page.

Kaspersky has uncovered many new ways how phishing scammers are trying to fool business owners, which sometimes turn out to be quite elaborative. Some are mimicking loan or delivery services – by sharing false website or sending emails with fake accounting documents.

Some attackers masquerade as legitimate online platforms to get profit out of their victims: it may be even quite popular money transfer services, such as Wise Transfer.

Another red flag discovered by Kaspersky experts is a link to a page translated using Google Translate. Attackers use Google Translate to bypass cybersecurity mechanisms. The senders of the email allege that the attachment is some kind of payment document available exclusively to the recipient, which must be studied for a “contract meeting presentation and subsequent payments.” The Open button link points to a site translated by Google Translate. However, the link leads to a fake site launched by attackers in order to steal money from their victims.

Cybercriminals will try to reach out to their victims using every way possible – through unlicensed software, phishing websites or emails, breaches in the business’s security network or even via massive DDoS attacks. However, a recent survey by Kaspersky showed that 41% of SMBs have a crisis prevention plan – thus, do care about cybersecurity and understand how challenging IT security incident remediation can be is a good tendency that hopefully will result in reliable protective measures implemented within these organizations.

To protect businesses from cyberattacks, Kaspersky recommends the following:

• Implement a strong password policy, requiring a standard user account’s password to have at least eight letters, one number, uppercase and lowercase letters and a special character. Make sure these passwords are changed if there any suspicion that they have been compromised. To put this approach into practice without additional efforts, use a security solutionwith a comprehensive built-in password manager.
• Don’t ignore updates from a software and device vendors. These usually not only bring new features and interface enhancements, but also resolve uncovered safety gaps.
• Maintain a high level of security awareness among employees. Encourage your workers to learn more about current threats and ways to protect their personal and professional life and take relevant free courses. Conducting comprehensive and effective third-party training programs for employees is a good way to save the IT department time, and get good results.

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Fashinza is using the new funds to invest in supply chain technology and expand the company’s presence globally. This includes monetizing fintech offerings, expanding into raw material procurement, and creating a sustainable (i.e., net positive) supply chain by 2030 and Industry 4.0 solutions for SMB manufacturers.

Abhishek Sharma, COO, and Co-founder of Fashinza said, “Our mission is to create a sustainable, futuristic, and agile fashion supply chain using technology while improving the ethics and sustainability in the supply chain. We are now also using the massive data we generate to solve financial challenges for our customers and suppliers with our fintech products.”

In the past 12 months, Fashinza grew the business over tenfold. The company also reduced minimum order quantities to as low as 50 and reduced design to delivery TATs by 50% in a single year.

Pawan Gupta, CEO, and Co-founder of Fashinza said, “We are excited to expand our global presence and offer fast and sustainable tech-based supply chain solutions – especially to our customers in North America. Our goal to help our partner brands and manufacturers to work and thrive with an agile supply chain that benefits all is now a reality and already positively impacting our customers’ lives.”

Fashinza’s technology is reducing wastage across the entire production process and bringing social transparency into the supply chain. Additionally, Fashinza aims to scale its environment-friendly practices and materials to make costs comparable to their unsustainable counterparts.

Ashutosh Sharma, Head of Investments for India, Prosus Ventures said, “The issues of the fashion industry supply chain have faced some unique challenges in the past few years that have also made the sector ripe for disruption. The Fashinza team has responded with agility, evolving to offer tech-based solutions beyond the traditional channels. We are confident about the team’s capability as they look to scale further and are delighted to partner with their mission.”

Sandeep Singhal, Managing Director, Westbridge Capital said, “We are thrilled to be part of Fashinza’s journey of growth. We believe the company has the potential to revolutionize the fashion industry supply chain using technology and we are excited to help take the company to the next level”.

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In 2018 we witnessed significant advancements in the supply chain and logistics field. But is it enough? No, there is still a plethora of challenges that need to be addressed.

In Middle East and Asia (MEA), small-scale restaurant owners are finding it difficult to compete with food aggregators that have no intention to generate profits. In countries like Dubai, inaccurate addresses remain a big challenge. In addition, improving last mile delivery to boost customer experience will continue to be a prominent trend.

So, as we step on 2019, let us quickly glance through the four major supply chain and logistics trends that are going to impact businesses in the MEA region.

Adoption of Advance Supply Chain and Logistics Platforms
In the Middle East region, revenue from food the delivery market is expected to grow at an annual growth rate of 13.6 percent, resulting in a market volume of US$2,804m by 2023. Hence, it’s not surprising that investors will continue to fund food aggregators.

Not worried about generating profits, these food aggregators are seldom known for playing by the rules and conflict of interest between these aggregators and restaurants owners are common.

The question is how does a restaurant compete with these aggregators who are delivering food at cut-throat prices? There is no easy answer to this but adopting an advanced supply chain and logistics platform can surely solve a lot of problems.

Take this case in point. A pizza joint in Dubai wanted to partner with a food aggregator to scale deliveries. Unfortunately, it never worked out because as the latter was insisting credit cards payment options on their platform and demanded 37 percent of total transaction value.

The only way out for the company was to have a supply chain and logistics management platform, the will make delivery efficient and cost-effective. Leveraging such an advanced platform, the Pizza joint built its own proprietary digital e-commerce platform to execute deliveries and the platform worked wonders for the pizza joint.

An advanced supply chain and logistics software help business increase fleet visibility, boost customer experience and engagement, optimize delivery routes, customize delivery locations, predict communications and so much more. Moving ahead, with the way eCommerce is flourishing, I feel it will be a necessity for organizations to digitalize and automate their logistics operations completely.

Dealing with the ‘Inaccurate Address’ Challenge
The incorrect and inadequate postal address is a major problem that supply chain and logistics business face in the MEA region.

A large logistics company in Dubai highlighted that in the Middle East it is common to see packages and letters addressed to a person in a city with no proper delivery address. All they usually have is a name and a mobile number. And that it is the delivery company’s responsibility to investigate, research and find out where is the intended delivery address.

Imagine this. You are a reputed logistics company. It costs you around $5-$7 to deliver a parcel to a customer’s location. In rare cases, it may so happen that a few delivery addresses provided by customers were inadequate or did not have a proper postal code.

Like a good logistics company, you took it on yourself to spend more time, money and manpower to unearth the actual location of the customer and deliver the parcel. In some cases, the cost incurred in doing this might not hurt a company’s bottom line but imagine if this happens regularly with tens and thousands of parcels. The delivery cost will balloon to some tens of billions of dollars per year. And that’s exactly what’s happening in the MEA.

To resolve this ‘inaccurate-address’ problem, supply chain and logistics companies need to embrace AI and ML-based platforms that can leverage advanced technologies to geolocate a customer’s delivery address intelligently.

Improving Last-Mile Delivery to Boost Cx
Next-day deliveries, customizing delivery locations and timing on the fly, paperless billings and more such customer expectations will continue to drive businesses to embrace advanced supply chain and logistics platforms.

Online customers in the MEA region want retailers to deliver ‘in-store’ like buying experience focused on instant gratification. According to Google, in UAE only 53 percent of retailers offer click and collect as a service, and only three retailers offer next-day delivery.

The only way to be on top of the ‘customer experience’ trend is to drastically improve last-mile delivery with advanced Saas-based logistics and eCommerce platforms.

The article is written and contributed by Gautam Kumar, Co-Founder & COO of FarEye

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