Strategic Partnership to Empower SMEs
Lausanne-based startup Novertur and London-based Kantox have announced a strategic partnership to support the international trade of small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs). The two companies share a common objective to support SMEs’ operations in international trade and have developed this strategic partnership programme to facilitate such trade.
Challenges Facing SMEs in Global Expansion
In the era of social networks, cloud computing and big data, it remains difficult for companies less endowed in resources to efficiently develop their business abroad and to optimize their international operations. Not only do they struggle in the search for relevant partners abroad, they also endure significant costs when it comes to foreign exchange (FX) of currency with international payments and capital transfers.
Novertur's Online Solution for Internationalization
In order for these companies to spare time and money in the first steps of their long and costly internationalization, Novertur offers an online solution enabling businesses to find automatically and with minimal effort the most complementary distributors, suppliers, and other relevant partners abroad. Florent Schlaeppi, CEO of Novertur explains, “Our online business matching technology will simply use the words describing the company and through a semantic data analysis it will match it with businesses having a potential for collaboration.”
With Kantox, Novertur reinforces the support to its user-base. “We’re excited about this partnership.” Says Florent Schlaeppi. “From our experience working with companies all across Europe and connecting them to trade partners, we know that international finance is a key topic for many CFOs today. Our collaboration with Kantox will provide them with a way to solve one of their biggest challenges.”
Addressing Foreign Exchange Issues for SMEs
Indeed, according to Philippe Gelis, CEO of Kantox, “SMEs don’t often have the negotiating power of large enterprises, so they may end up being overcharged on international transactions and forced to go through outdated, manual payment processes. With Kantox, we give them a multiple award-winning alternative solution that’s modern, fully transparent and gives SMEs and mid caps access to mid-market rates, updated in real time, a service normally only available to big corporates and at a significant cost. By bringing the Kantox service closer to Novertur, we intend to provide a better support to SMEs sharing the common concern of doing international business more efficiently.”
