Munich Startup: Who are you and what does Droov do? Please introduce yourselves briefly!
Droov: We are Vladimir Fomenko, Dmitry Burlakov and Isa Usmanov. We met during our studies at the Technical University of Munich: Dmitry and Isa while organizing a large event, and Vlad and Isa while working on a UnternehmerTUMProject. All three of us have already founded companies before. After gaining experience in academia and corporate life, we found a sustainable business idea together and launched it in 2019.
As a team, we have a broad and complementary academic background and professional experience: Management and product development (Isa, 24), software engineering and artificial intelligence (Vlad, 23), and computer science and business administration (Dmitry, 24).
Droov: Meeting growing demand for delivery services
Munich Startup: What problem does your startup solve?
DroovE-commerce has been growing steadily for years. Consumers are becoming increasingly demanding and demanding greater convenience in the delivery of goods and services. At the same time, the "buy local" trend is gaining momentum—consumers prefer to buy from local retailers. It goes without saying that the COVID-19 pandemic has also had a significant impact on shopping habits.
However, companies from a variety of industries such as food and beverage, retail, laundry, pharmacies, flower shops, farmers and others are struggling to scale their operations and adapt to the growing demand for delivery services.
Here comes our solution Enter Droov: a software that manages and optimizes last-mile delivery. We provide companies with flexible solutions to provide delivery services to their customers while simultaneously generating optimized routes, managing their fleet, increasing revenue, and enhancing customer satisfaction.
While we help businesses with revenue, we developed our startup with the environment in mind. Due to growing consumer demand, the number of delivery vehicles in the world's 100 largest cities is expected to increase by 36 percent by 2030, leading to an increase in emissions of over 30 percent. Our goal is to reduce emissions by more than 20 percent by providing businesses with our proprietary route optimization tools.
B2B SaaS logistics market is highly competitive
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Droov: The B2B SaaS last-mile logistics market is indeed quite competitive, with many solutions taking different approaches. However, we've found that setting up most solutions requires consultants.
This is where we differ greatly – the plug-and-play Droov platform is so easy and intuitive to set up that any grandma can start a delivery service in minutes. This doesn't mean our solution offers fewer features than the competition. We've focused on the art of "complexity within simplicity." Our software is easy to use and features cutting-edge technology for route optimization, shipment tracking, order and resource management.
Munich Startup: What have been your three biggest challenges so far?
Droov: Droov wasn't the idea we started with. Our pivot (a radical change in the business model, editor's note) was the result of many ups and downs, and we learned a lot along the way. At the beginning of 2020, we launched ReinioAfter successfully serving customers for several months (almost exactly when the pandemic began), we realized that our logistics software and integrated ordering system was a great offering for a much broader audience—not just laundries.
We decided to adjust our strategy. It wasn't easy to end our current operations and venture into something new. But we don't regret our decision.
The plan: Complete the seed round this year
Munich Startup: How are things going?
Droov: We're currently onboarding our first commercial client—one of the largest dry cleaning companies in Munich. We're also receiving interest from SMEs in the retail, mobility, and cleaning industries who want to work with us.
Our team is growing: We'll be a team of eleven by mid-September, and we plan to continue expanding. We also plan to close a seed round in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Munich Startup: How do you rate Munich as a startup location?
Droov: Munich is a city where culture and tradition meet a future-oriented focus and high vitality. This makes it a unique startup hub. We are very grateful for the local startup ecosystem and for being able to work with UnternehmerTUM, LMU Entrepreneurship Center, and others. The number of Munich startups is growing rapidly, as is the number of venture capitalists. Support and government funding are also an important factor in the development of the ecosystem.
Munich Startup: Zoom or in person?
Droov: Depends on who. No, just kidding. A clever mix! We've learned to combine the two quite well.
