More than just a business webshop
Hyperfox fills the gap in the B2B market where a traditional webshop often falls short. Distributors and wholesalers work with business customers, who each have a specific contract regarding product ranges and pricing policies. If they want to translate this into a digital ordering platform on top of the existing ERP system, they quickly spend hundreds of thousands of euros in customisation.
Digital personalisation, on top of an ERP
“We are changing that with Hyperfox,” says founder & CEO Tom Devos. “Hyperfox is the personalised layer on top of the ERP that allows every B2B customer to order at his price and within the agreed range. In this way, we make the entire ordering process significantly simpler and more correct. We avoid manual orders via phone or mail and we bring transparency to the customer about the order status, less administrative overhead and more sales.”
End-to-end digital B2B2C experience
The Hyperfox platform goes for an end-to-end experience: from the distributor all the way to the end customer. The platform contains a lot of digital workflows that the intermediary can use to offer better services to the end consumer. In this way, product knowledge and advice can flow even better from the distributor all the way to the end customer. The result: more market steering, more sales and more lock-in at the middleman.
“We see that real market and product knowledge within companies is still too much in the heads of a few key employees who are often already approaching retirement age. Thanks to our Hyperfox platform, we safeguard this knowledge digitally before it’s too late. This way, we can pass on their expertise internally and it also reaches customers,” Devos adds.
Failing forward entrepreneurship
Hyperfox is not Devos’ first entrepreneurial story. As a student entrepreneur at UHasselt, he started as a website builder in 2007. After an interlude in digital consulting, he created a furore in 2015 with webagency Intago, which grew to 18 employees in three years. “But we grew too fast and that put pressure on our cash flow, while we were not sufficiently streamlined operationally,” says Devos. It brought the firm to the brink of bankruptcy at the end of 2018. The team was completely phased out and repayment plans were drawn up with government, investors and suppliers. “The first two years I hardly came out, I felt like a failed entrepreneur. I could lean on family, friends and customers who continued to believe in us and gave us opportunities,” Tom adds. The relaunch worked miraculously and the entrepreneurial fire rekindled.
Bryo Scaleup
“Last year, I took the step to participate in VOKA Chamber of Commerce Limburg’s Bryo Scaleup programme. There I suddenly found myself at the table with 10 other entrepreneurs who had experienced very similar situations, I realised I was not alone. During a one-year coaching trajectory, I was strongly guided by VOKA experts to rebuild the business sustainably. It is during this trajectory that the idea of Hyperfox was born,” indicates Devos.” VOKA while also put us in touch with potential investors. After an expert council and investment pitch, I came into contact with serial entrepeneur Bert Baeck (Trendminer / Timeseer.ai). Bert was immediately on board with the story, not much later we founded Hyperfox together.”
Strong initial growth
Meanwhile, Eduard Céspedes-Borràs also came on board as CTO and co-founder. Today, the core team consists of 5 employees, complemented by experienced consultants in HR, operations, finance, marketing and sales. The first customers are also on board, with names such as Nassau Scheepsbenodigdheden, Joma Sport Belgium and Theuma Doors.
