A Gartner report estimates that 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will happen in digital channels such as online marketplaces by 2025. Despite this global shift, the major concern for industrial buyers is finding and stocking operating supplies that are painless to buy in bulk, low in cost and responsibly sourced. A Finnish startup Droppe is tapping into this shift towards industrial online marketplaces.
Raised €2.2M
The online marketplace for European industrial equipment manufacturers and industrial buyers has raised €2.2 million after being bootstrapped for a few years. The investment round was led by Lifeline Ventures, which also backed Dispelix, another Finnish startup. Also, the round saw participation from angel investors – Miki Kuusi from Wolt, the co-founder and CEO of Wolt and Ilkka Paananen, the co-founder and CEO of Supercell.
Droppe intends to use the fresh funds to expand its operations into Germany and acelerate the growth in Finland and Sweden. Currently, it has over 30 local suppliers from the EU and the Nordics.
“As industrial wholesale moves online, more and more industrial buyers will be looking for new ways to bulk order products via the internet. Droppe is the first in the market to build a European industrial wholesale marketplace, a mission that we are excited to continue building and expanding with new resources,” Johannes Salmisaari, the CEO and Co-founder of Droppe, explained. “Our vision is to create a trustworthy community of European buyers and manufacturers and through that, build a stronger European wholesale market.”
“Droppe’s online marketplace streamlines the buying process and makes it easier for industrial buyers. Buyers are now able to order directly from multiple manufacturers across Europe at the same time, all on one invoice–something that the industry hasn’t seen before,” told Henrik Helenius, Co-founder of Droppe.
“As an investor, it is quite rare to see such a well-oiled machine at this stage,” Timo Ahopelto, the Founding Partner at Lifeline Ventures, stated.
Buy directly from manufacturers
Droppe was founded in 2020 by Johannes Salmisaari and Henrik Helenius in Finland. It distributes work equipment and protective equipment on its own network platform. Through genuine community spirit and straightforward purchases and deliveries, we help companies order first-class supplies directly from responsible suppliers.
It is involved in building a more connected European industrial wholesale market by linking European industrial buyers to European manufacturers. With this platform, it is possible to buy the most sought-after accessories directly from the manufacturers. Industrial buyers can now bulk order products for food manufacturing and industrial manufacturing ranging from hairnets to aprons and protective gloves through Droppe’s online platform.
Being a one-stop-shop for purchasing all your supplies, Droppe lets buyers save on bulk orders and it lets them order from multiple suppliers simultaneously in the same order. Also, buyers can try the products for free and subscribe to favourites for their community. With this platform, it is posible to compare supplies and manufacturers more comprehensively.
Ensures authenticity of products
Droppe makes the European wholesale industry more connected by creating shorter and more responsible supply chains, as companies can look for local wholesale marketplaces from Europe instead of other continents.
The company lets buyers save time on the purchases as they can browse European supplies, get to know the manufacturers and get unbiased support for product choices, select the appropriate order items and confirm delivery to their workstation or shelved directly to their warehouse.
Its easy-to-use online marketplace is already used by over 500 customers including the biggest industrial key players and publicly listed companies in Europe. Already, Droppe has reached a GMV of €4 million. What’s more, Droppe only accepts original manufacturers or official importers.
