Katoen Natie enters into a worldwide exclusive agreement with Twintag and takes a stake in its capital
A successful pilot project with Twintag in Houston during the summer of 2021 clearly hinted in the direction of corporate venturing.
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Katoen Natie enters into a worldwide exclusive agreement with Twintag and takes a stake in its capital
"For quite some time, we had been looking for the right way to digitally market our added value in logistics, as well as to digitally shape our sustainability initiatives. A successful pilot project with Twintag in Houston during the summer of 2021 clearly hinted in the direction of corporate venturing. The mutual interest was immediate and the shared no-nonsense company culture ensured a swift closing of the deal," states Fabian Leroy, Vice President Katoen Natie Group, which will be deploying Twintag technology at customers worldwide, acquiring exclusivity for logistics applications in the chemical and petrochemical industries.
"A partner such as Katoen Natie, a global leader in its industry, brings a range of potential customers in one fell swoop, as well as a seasoned channel to serve them. If, in addition, funds become available to scale the organisation, this is a superior way for Twintag to grow," says Alexander Carpentier, CEO of Twintag. Katoen Natie is indeed joining the capital and the Board of Directors and is acquiring a significant minority stake in a capital increase of EUR 3.5 million in total, in which founders and existing shareholders also participate.
With this transaction, Katoen Natie is co-investing in the roll-out of Twintag's logistics value proposition. Unlike the large projects and heavy migrations involved in traditional logistics software implementations, this lightweight approach layers new digital functionality on top of existing processes without disrupting them. As a result, digital applications such as traceability or recyclability of goods can be implemented and marketed more efficiently.
"During the COVID19 crisis, we did a strategic thinking exercise around the extensive use of product-related data in our value chains," says Raf Cornelissen, Lead Customer Experience and Digital Enablement at ExxonMobil Chemical. When we went to market in early 2021 looking for solutions, we came across Twintag, which has Unique Identifiers at its core. Our pilot project in Houston confirmed that Twintag's platform is a solid basis for our digital ambitions. The new strategic partnership with Katoen Natie can now also create the scale to work with us globally."
About Katoen Natie
Katoen Natie, with headquarters in Antwerp, was founded in Belgium in 1854. The company has since grown into a global logistics service provider, combining engineering, technology and logistics operations to offer innovative and sustainable customised solutions to customers in various sectors. Katoen Natie is active in 40 countries across five different continents, and employs more than 18,000 people.
Contact: twintag@katoennatie.com
About Twintag
Twintag was founded in 2017 as Esoptra NV by technology entrepreneurs Jan Van Riel and Paul Carpentier, jointly responsible for 6 startups and 50+ patents in data storage and management. The company elevates products to powerful communication channels with customers. A Twintag - often a QR code - links a "digital soul" to a physical product. In this way, Twintag's product-led communication platform closes the gap between physical and digital, most recently in logistics. Twintag is based in Herentals, Belgium, with teams in Bangalore (India) and Salt Lake City (Utah, USA).
Contact: alexander.carpentier@twintag.com +32 493 24 89 92
Press
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Alexander Carpentier
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