A Shopify For B2B Transactions, Raises Biggest Pre-seed Round Of Italy

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Volta , a new startup with a team split between two headquarters in Milan and Paris, has secured a €6 million pre-seed round ($6.3 million) to develop a new vertical software-as-a-service platform focused on B2B sales.

In more practical terms, the Volta team pitches its product as an equivalent to Shopify but focused on B2B transactions. While Shopify, the ecommerce giant that helps people create an online store and easily sell items to consumers, offers a B2B commerce platform, Volta thinks there's value in creating a company specifically focused on the B2B transactions.

According to Volta, most midsize wholesale and distribution companies around Europe still use paper catalogs and rely on manual order processing.

When they go to trade shows and meet potential clients in their offices, these companies tend to juggle between several versions of their paper catalogs. Depending on the client and the context, they don't want to show the same list of items and prices.

That's why Volta wants to simplify the catalog management process. However, the company doesn't want to replace the good old enterprise resource planning system. When a purchase order is signed, the transaction is then processed through the ERP.

But everything that happens before the transaction will potentially be handled by Volta. Companies can upload their existing catalog from Excel files or their ERP system. They can check that the column taxonomy is correct and then import everything to Volta.

"The B2C sector has evolved rapidly, with digital platforms replacing paper catalogs and delivering integrated e-commerce solutions. Meanwhile, B2B operations have lagged nearly 15 years behind, still bogged down by outdated, manual processes," co-founder and co-CEO Paul Guillemin said in a statement.

Volta also lets you manage customers directly from the platform's interface. Users can create company profiles, create categories, and group clients in different categories. "That only covers 20% of what you can do with Salesforce, but it's still good enough for most companies," Paul Guillemin told TechCrunch.