Disrupting Supply Chain With Blockchain KoineArth enables on-demand creation of multi-company business groups

Praphul Chandra early on realised the power blockchain tech holds to solve the supply chain management constraints. The root of supply chain challenges is data silos between organisations, he believes. Delays in supply chain, opaque operations, constant inventory management and billing disputes are all the result of data held by one entity that is not easily accessible by other parties.

The digital record-keeping blockchain technology can enable faster and transparent delivery of products while ensuring better coordination between the stakeholders involved.

Realising the potential game changer blockchain can be in supply chain management, Chandra launched KoineArth in 2018. "Our immediate focus are value chains and supply chains in the enterprise context where multiple companies must work in perfect synchronization to achieve a common objective," said the founder Chandra in an interaction with Entrepreneur India.

The name of Chandra's company quite clearly captures his mission. "The word KoineArth combines Koinne (Greek "shared") and Arth (Sanskrit "meaning"). The name captures the spirit that a group of individual entities becomes a community when they share the same purpose or meaning."

KoineArth is built ground-up on blockchain. The company, whose main IP is a platform termed marketsN, enables on-demand creation of multi-company business groups. marketsN is a blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI) based, ERP-compatible solution for organisations to collaborate.

Chandra explained these groups create three key value propositions for KoineArth's enterprise customers. One, it creates digital eco-systems for B2B coordination, under which organisations can track orders, shipments, payments across the supply chain. "They can adapt to supply chain disruptions by coordinating their response and they can automate reconciliation with smart contracts to reduce disputes," he said.

The company claims that one of the largest metal manufacturers in the world is using marketsN for real time tracking of inventory, orders, products and invoices. "Enterprise customers can expect a 50 per cent reduction in procurement processing times due to real time coordination enabled by marketsN," said Chandra.

Two, create digital assets backed with enterprise data and commitment. "marketsN enables enterprises to monetize data by enabling private, secure, consensual data sharing among enterprises."

A Korean mobility company is using marketsN for monetizing their data with data-consumers. "This is an example of the future applications where enterprises can share data with business partners in a secure, consent-approved way to create new CXs (customer experiences) and revenue streams with marketsN," he pointed.

Last, marketsN converts data into a true asset to enable new forms of digital finance for enterprises and SMEs. "Documents like invoices can be used securely as collateral for borrowing working capital. Traditionally available only to first-tier suppliers, we are working with one of the largest financial institutions to enable easy financing much deeper into the supply chain helping SMEs," Chandra said. "An agri-finance company in Chennai is using marketsN for enabling 1-click access to capital to farmers and FPOs."

Enterprise customers can expect a 30-40 per cent increase in cash-flow gains due to streamlined operations enabled by marketsN, he added.

The Covid-19 caused disruptions in business operations have brought focus on the importance of smooth supply chain.

The Bengaluru-headquartered KoineArth counts the likes of Aditya Birla, Amazon Web Services, SAP, Oracle for startups and Supply Chain Labs as its clients.

Chandran said the year 2020 was tough for the company as Covid-19 led disruptions left businesses uncertain and cash crunched. "We focused the year dedicated to developing our marketsN platform as a digital supply chain solution."

However, at the same time, as Covid-19 brought everything to a standstill, it moved focus on the importance of efficient supply chain. "Towards the end of 2020, as things started to come back post COVID, we saw growing traction from customers & the startup ecosystems."

The company also raised its pre-Series A funding of about USD 1.8 million from YourNest and Inventus Capital Partners earlier in March this year. Additionally, KoineArth was also selected as part of the Supply Chain Labs cohort backed by Lumis Partners and won grants from UK DFID, Tezos Foundation and MG Motors.

On being asked about the company's future plans, Chandra said they are eyeing international expansion. "As traction for our solution grows, we will continue to grow our team to serve our customers. We are also planning a fund raise round soon."