Startup Spotlight #28: Optiyol

December 7, 2019

If you follow the Hackquarters blog, you may have noticed our interest and enthusiasm for artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is able to solve many problems that are difficult to solve, and it shows itself in many areas. Of course, the optimization of complex problems is one of them. Businesses with field operations can face big challenges in the route optimization of their employees. Questions such as which vehicle to use, which route to use, which delivery to take, can create big problems for such companies. When this optimization is not done correctly, the costs of these processes increase considerably. When you think about how much time you can save on your company and the cost of correct route planning, the team leader who does route planning has a big responsibility. In such a case, the importance of route optimization software for route planning becomes apparent. Some companies use software that can optimize routing instead of using paper and pen. Optiyol has a product that brings solutions to all the optimization problems. Optiyol provides optimization solutions for transportation planning decisions at strategic, tactical and operational levels.

What is your first name?

Ozan

Welcome, Ozan! What is your surname?

Gözbaşı

What is the name of your startup?

Optiyol

What is the website address of Optiyol?

https://www.optiyol.com/

Where is your startup based?

Turkey

What are your targeted verticals for your startup?

Machine Learning / AISmartCityEnterprise SaaSMobility / Logistics

Tell us what your startup does.

Optiyol helps freight and passenger transportation fleets for smarter route schedules that reduce costs and improve on-time performance.

Tell us about your team.

Ozan Gözbaşı, CEOPast: Algorithm Designer at SmartOps (inventory optimization software startup acquired by SAP)Ph.D. Georgia Tech Industrial Engineering, M.S. Operations Research, Algorithm DesignTuba Yılmaz-Gözbaşı, COOPast: Optimization Consultant at Solvoyo (supply chain management software startup)Ph.D. Georgia Tech Industrial Engineering, M.S. Operation Research, Supply Chain DesignTuran Özen, CTOPast: Software Architect Roles at Turk Telekom, TUBITAK, Aselsan, Cybersoft, Co-founder Signum (2005-2010)M.S. in Computer Engineering from METU (ODTU), 20+ years experience in software engineering

When and why did you found your startup?

Initially started as a strategic supply chain optimization service company and served companies like Unilever, Ferrero, Philip Morris (275.00 USD Revenue). In 2019, pivoted to the SaaS business model with a focus on route optimization software deployed on Aws cloud.The problem:Legacy route optimization solutions lack the ability to handle the scale and complexity of last-mile operations in cities.The solution:Optiyol builds a self-learning optimization engine with comprehensive data models and algorithms to handle real-life constraints.

What are your key and unique features?

Optiyol team has algorithm engineers with advanced degrees in optimization and practical experience in building scalable optimization software solutions who are passionate to build the most flexible optimization engine to meet challenging requirements in last-mile city operations. Optiyol builds the most comprehensive data model and learning mechanism to handle various real-life situations in logistics operations which increases the practicality of suggested routes. Otherwise, users make lots of manual changes which diminishes the value/benefits of an optimization approach.

What is your growth like?

Our total revenue at our consulting-r&d phase was USD 275K. In the SaaS model, we have signed the largest last-mile delivery company for big-box items to optimize 2.5 million deliveries annually out of 30 distribution centers. We also signed the number 1 tissue paper company, a food service company and en electronics distributor with annual subscriptions. The current MRR is USD 13K. Currently, we have a pipeline of 30+ customers who are evaluating the solution with an expected MRR value of USD 150K. We are starting to build sales partnerships with bigger software companies and logistics consultants in the U.S. and Europe.

Tell us about the numbers that matter to you.

Route optimization software market is growing with 18.6% CGR and expected to reach 10 billion dollars in 5 years. The reachable Turkish market that we initially operate is about USD 50 million in ARR. Smart City, Clean Tech, Smart Mobility/Logistics, IoT are fields that can utilize our route optimization engines as part of large digital transformation projects for more efficient movement of people and goods. Urbanization and e-commerce increases the importance of last-mile operations.

What are your plans for next year and the next 5 years?

We have completed the architecture of our solution on the cloud and feel ready to expand our customer base out of Turkey. For next year; on the product side we will invest in UI/UX, Analytics dashboards, ERP integrations and self-learning features from mobile data. On sales and marketing, we will focus on content creation to stress our unique approach, building strategic partnerships to explore global opportunities. For the next five years, we would like to become an autonomous dispatch center that not only optimizes routes for a single company but also extracts synergies between operations of multiple companies to improve overall well-being.

Did you receive any investments?

Yes, 140K seed from StartersHub and TIKAD.

Tell us 3 startups that excite you, and why?

Flexport: They are proving how digitalization can transform international logisticsEvreka: They are proving that a Turkey-based startup can serve customers globallyRoadie: We have thought about how we can utilize unused space in millions of passenger cars who travel between almost any two neighborhoods. Roadie found the right business model and started providing same-day deliveries in a crowd-sourced way in the U.S.

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