Hyperfox raises 3.2 million EUR in seed round capital from Volta Ventures, JK Invest, LRM and Birdhouse Ventures.
With big ambitions launched at Corda Campus in Hasselt in 2023, Hyperfox made an impressive journey in less than two years. Initially with modest capital and a loan from business angels and stakeholders, as well as an early investment from LRM (Limburg Investment Company). In early 2024, Hyperfox received an investment from Birdhouse Ventures and was included in the Birdhouse programme, as well as VLAIO provided a hefty grant to further develop the AI.
‘Several years ago, our path crossed that of Hyperfox through the VOKA Investor Readiness programme. We believed in their potential back then and made an initial investment. Even now, we want to continue supporting their further growth with additional capital, which is fully in line with LRM's philosophy of supporting companies from their first commercial traction to exponential growth to possible exit later,’ said Koen Walbers, senior investment manager at LRM.
Now Volta Ventures and JK Invest are also joining the ranks of investors. Together with Birdhouse, LRM, the founding team and business angels are bringing in 3.2 million euros. With this strong position, together with a scalable order automation platform, where product market fit was more than proven over the past year, Hyperfox is now ready for the future.
Koen De Waele, Volta Ventures: ‘Hyperfox fulfils the urgent need of B2B companies to streamline their order management and offer the same speed and transparency as for B2C orders. Tom and the Hyperfox team combine their deep understanding of the supply chain and experience in digital transformation with innovative AI technologies. In this way, they help achieve superior customer service on top of an efficient back office.
Vincent Jocquet, Birdhouse Ventures: ‘The Hyperfox team is a textbook example of how a complementary team of serial entrepreneurs with a strong vision and the right framing can make great strides in the short term, both in terms of commercial growth and attracting the right type of growth capital.’
Validated orders...
Tom Devos, Founder of Hyperfox: ‘At the start of Hyperfox, it was clear that we wanted to solve the back-office problem: manual order entry, lots of phone calls to follow up on orders and all the errors and credit notes that result. Initially, we looked for the solution in a customer portal, but not every end customer wants to use it just like that. It is still easier to mail or call. We now solve that entirely with our own AI.’
During market validation, another additional pain point emerged: every order still has to be tested against customer-specific conditions. This complexity caused the back-office to be skewed when it came to automation for a long time.
AI as the basis for order automation
Founder Tom Devos: ‘With our AI solution, we process orders from all incoming channels, from e-mail and phone to webshop, customer zone or API/EDI. So the back-office finally gets time for controlling, proactive and high-quality work, which gets people's energy back. Because although AI is the solution, human validation should certainly not be skipped.’
Currently, Hyperfox scores over 80 per cent in terms of validation without human intervention. This ensures that scalability in operational processes is no longer an empty word, the intrinsic cost per order processing falls, but above all that errors are avoided.
Added value, also for SMEs...
Hyperfox comes in three flavours, from Essential, through Plus to Enterprise, each with the right set of tools for every size of company. Starting with Essential, Hyperfox already has the AI tool to structure orders in an automated way, combined with traditional API and EDI channels. This includes a basic set of rules that can be used to validate. Every SME can thus benefit from the power of AI in order automation. Hyperfox generates a validated file, which any company can use to move forward towards its traditional order management or ERP system. In the Plus version, there is also two-way traffic where consulting current stock also becomes possible. In the Enterprise version, an additional layer is added where managing approval processes and budget tracking is another asset...
‘We have worked solidly over the last year to bring the right product to market,’ says founder Tom Devos. ‘We have noticed since the last quarter, when we come to customers with our solution, that we are really able to unburden the back-office. Not the price, but when we can start implementing is the most frequently asked question. This is how we realise our mission: humans in flow.’
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