Kyklo, a startup that helps wholesalers of electrical and automation products launch e-commerce stores, announces it has raised $ 8.5 million in initial funding.
The industry may seem a bit arcane, but that's what Remi Ducrocq founds (Kyklo CEO) and Fabien Legouic (CTO) know they have worked at Schneider Electric. Ducrocq said the process of selling these products to manufacturers and electricians remains cumbersome, relying largely on PDF catalogs.
Moving these businesses digitally is a much bigger challenge than setting up your standard online store, both due to the number of products sold and the need for accurate listings.
"Even the smallest people sell 100,000 SKUs [distinct products], up to 1 million SKUs, "Ducrocq told me." If you choose the wrong product, your factory is closed. [It's essential] have accurate information present in the web shop to enable the execution of a transaction "
Kyklo doesn't fully automate the process, Ducrocq added, because "you can't just create content or apply artificial intelligence to something that's so unstructured." Creating these stores remains a manual process for the Kylo team, but the company has created "technology to make the manual process as simple as possible."
This includes standardized data structures and a variety of scripts to build these product listings faster. Ultimately, Ducrocq said Kyklo can get distributors up and running with an online store within 30 days, and sometimes even two weeks.
In total, Kyklo has created a catalog of over 2.5 million products for over 35 distributors. It has also been approved by manufacturers such as Schneider Electric, Wago, Festo US and Mitsubishi Electric Automation as a preferred e-commerce partner.
Ducrocq suggested that going digital with Kyklo helps these companies both by enabling them to reach new customers with improved SEO, and by providing them with tools to expand their sales with existing customers. For example, IEC Supply says its online sales increased 500% for the first six months after launching with Kyklo, while new customer interactions have tripled.
"Market maturity has accelerated due to the pandemic," he added. "These traditional B2B companies were reluctant to go digital, with only visionaries embarking on the journey. But during the pandemic, vendors weren't able to see their customers in person for six months, so many distributors are reevaluating how they should actually go on the market. "
Kyklo has now raised a total of $ 10.2 million. The new funding was led by Felicis Ventures and IA Ventures, with the participation of Jungle Ventures, partner of Wavemaker, Seedplus and strategic angel investors.
"With 80% of the $ 640 billion power distribution, industrial and automation sector still relying on PDF catalogs, telephone and email for their operations, distributors face a challenge in the market." Felicis Sundeep Peechu CEO said in a statement. "KYKLO's the platform helps these companies keep pace with crucial industry needs and re-evaluate how digital tools can transform their sales force. "