This year, on March 1st, TechnologyCatalogue.com marked a significant milestone as it celebrated its 6th anniversary. In honor of this achievement, we had the pleasure of catching up with CEO and Co-founder, Erik Nijveld, to reflect on the journey to date and explore the exciting paths ahead. Continue reading to discover the platform's origin and evolution, its client-centric solutions, and insights into future plans, including details on the upcoming funding round.
Erik, congratulations with the 6th company anniversary. A great milestone! How is the company developing, compared to what you had in mind when you started the company?
Let me start by saying a few words on how the idea of TechnologyCatalogue.com developed. In my last role at Shell, I was responsible for finding & selecting proven 3rd party technology, and to get the technology deployed and replicated in Shell’s assets. We did that through - what was called in Shell - the Technology Replication Thrust for Production Excellence. In those days, I worked closely together with my co-founder Vincent van Beusekom, and with Piet Moeleker, who joined TechnologyCatalogue.com in 2022 as CIO.
Over a period of about 7 years, we managed to realise over 600 deployments, with significant business impact made. But it wasn’t easy.
At some point in time we thought: why is there no platform that can help us with finding & selecting technologies and streamlining the delivery! It may sound strange, but such a platform didn’t exist. In our consumer life, we use platforms for hotels, restaurants, etc. But for technology, there was no such platform. And as far as we can see, we’re still the only two-sided B2B technology platform in the energy industry.
The platform as we have it today is designed based on our user experience. We understand what is needed from the perspective of operators. And where we are today is pretty much what we had in mind when we started it!
It’s fantastic to see that our customers see the value. We get consistent feedback that our platform is a tremendous resource to find and select technologies, and that the platform provides data insights that would otherwise take months to obtain. And the feedback that we get from suppliers is that it helps them to generate high-quality leads, at a cost that is way lower than getting leads through exhibitions.
Are you a Technology Supplier? Visit https://suppliers.technologycatalogue.com/
What is it that you offer your customers today?
As TechnologyCatalogue.com, we sell subscriptions to suppliers of services and products, and to end-user companies.
Let me start with the latter. What we typically include as part of a subscription for end-users are three things:
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Access to the platform content.
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Possibility to share challenges, by company name or anonymously.
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Data insights to learn from peers/competitors.
Extra functionalities can be added as a next step. For example, we offer companies their own space on the platform, only accessible to their own employees. The space is continuously updated with technologies that meet their specific criteria. For example, only technologies that have been approved by their own technical authorities, or only technologies for which there is a contract in place with the vendor. That way, whenever people in the assets or projects are looking for solutions, they know that the technology ticks certain boxes.
We offer suppliers three subscription plans. Depending on the plan, the supplier gets more visibility, better data insights about leads, and more support. Learn more about what we offer & pricing.
We would like to invite suppliers and end-users to book a demo with us, during which we’re happy to provide background on the packages that we offer! book a no-commitment demo
What’s your mission for the next few years?
Our mission is that in a few years from now, all solutions of relevance to the energy industry and the energy transition can be found on our platform. We will thereby also further enhance the functionality, such that end-users can easily find technologies that are available or under development, no matter how many solutions there are on the platform. Suppliers are able to attract clients through the platform, reducing the need to be at many exhibitions.
It doesn’t mean that in person events are no longer needed. They are. However, TechnologyCatalogue.com makes the matchmaking between suppliers and end-users way easier and way more effective.
Do you also see a role for your platform in other industries?
Yes. The platform as we have it would also be of tremendous value to other industries. Our focus is mainly on the energy industry for now. However, we will also step into other areas when it makes sense. An example is the mining industry, and discussions are on-going with a major mining organisation to support them. Many technologies of relevance to the energy industry are also of relevance to mining, and vice versa.
And as a next step, we may also venture into other industries. The way we have set up the platform is such that we can easily move into other industries when the time is right, this way also supporting cross-industry sharing.
You recently highlighted on Linkedin that you’re currently doing another funding round. Can you say something about that?
Absolutely. We’re currently working on attracting €0.5 million of funds. Those funds will be used to increase our AI capacity, such that we can rapidly grow the platform content. A very exciting development! AI is not new to us, we are already using it today to generate technology profiles on our platform.
That was all for today’s interview. If you would like to learn more about the platform, please book a demo by going to: book a no-commitment demo
If you wish to talk to Erik directly, please contact him by sending a message to: eriknijveld@technologycatalogue.com