The software platform helps businesses bring transparency and traceability to products, from fish to fashion items
Bio
- Age of business: Founded July 2013
- Name of business: Provenance
- Location: London
- Team: Luke Harvey, Lady San Pedro, Jessi Baker, Harini Manivannan, Afra Quintanas, Ian Kynnersley, and Natalia Yockelle
- Funding: €95,369
What does Provenance do?
Provenance is a software platform helping businesses bring transparency and traceability to their products. Our digital tools showcase the journey of people, places and materials behind any physical thing from fish to fashion items.
How did you meet?
Provenance was started by Jessi Baker alongside her PhD in Computer Science. Jessi met Ian Kynnersley in 2014 and they started working together on a software platform. Jutta Steiner from Ethereum – a key advisor – helped develop the blockchain side, and collectively, they lead the industry in blockchain-based traceability.
Where did the business idea come from?
From a personal frustration for how little we know about the products we buy. Provenance provides businesses the tools they need to bring stories from the supply chain to the point of sale, giving shoppers assurance about where products come from.
Are you working with any other partners?
We have just completed a project supported by Humanity United, working with the Pole and Line Foundation on fish traceability. We tracked tuna from Indonesia on an open registry called a blockchain that underlies our platform. We are about to start a project with a large UK supermarket – watch this space.
How has ODINE helped you so far?
It’s been great to have the support of the ODINE team as we set about further developing our technology. We are excited to expand our work to more European supply chains with their help.
What advice would you give to other companies pitching to ODINE?
Make sure you have a clear idea of where you are trying to get to, and have a roadmap that takes you to sustainability and beyond.
How would you encourage big business to buy into the open data movement?
Being open can be counter-intuitive to large companies – particularly when it comes to supply chains which are traditionally a closed, guarded secret. But just as we have seen with the open source software movement, opening data can save huge amounts of money for companies by facilitating collaboration.
What’s the key trend in open data at the moment?
For us, blockchain technology is the hottest trend at the moment. Blockchain can revolutionise the trustworthiness and accessibility of open data, as we have described in our white paper.
(This article first appeared on The Guardian)
