INDUSTRIA

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CTO of Sweetbridge, a company building the project of an alternative economy using modern technologies, like decentralisation (DLTs), Modern Cryptography, etc. We cover topics like accounting, financing, contracts, asset management and supply chain; our goal is to lower the costs and risks in transactions, and insuring accountable confidentiality.

We’re based in California, Arizona, UK, and France.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with INDUSTRIA?

Our projects rely heavily on decentralisation in general, and to keep track of shared information during transactions, a DLT is a good option, depending on the DLT technology used. Applying decentralisation into domains like supply chain, is a great challenge, that we are currently working on, as information sharing or information protection are two opposites forces that need to be balanced. DLT stands for Distributed Ledger Technology.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We engaged with INDUSTRIA, to provide DLTs consulting and development services on the R3 Corda platform (https://www.corda.net). 

They helped us develop two PoCs in partnership with a UK Innovation agency, one in the domain of  Risks and Insurances and the second in the domain of Food/Sandwiches. 
The first one was completed successfully, and the second is still currently running. 

These two projects were/are a good opportunity for us to test our design and strategy of our future platform. Industria, is our partner on the DLT front to expand the full vision of the platform. 

During the course of the projects, we developed a tight collaboration with Industria and they became an important part of our R&D teams.

What is the team composition?

We have about 5–6 people from their end in our team. The developers are our points of contact.

How did you come to work with INDUSTRIA?

For our projects in the UK, R3 Corda was clearly the option to go, compared to other DLT/Blockchain solutions. R3 (https://www.r3.com), recommended Industria as the company that could help us use Corda DLT technology. They are active in implementing R3 Corda in different domains, and are also involved in different tools for the R3 Corda platform itself.

How much have you invested with them?

The projects were partly co-funded in the context of a UK innovation initiatives. The projects were budgeted at £2 million for the first (approximately $2.6 million USD), and almost £4 million for the second (approximately $5.2 million USD). Industria development costs were included in the budgeting of the projects. They are cost-effective.

What is the status of the engagement?

We had two streams of work. The prototyping of the first project began in September 2020 and ended in July 2021. We're still working together; the other stream started in November 2021 and is running up to September 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

For both projects, we worked on phase I which is about Proof of Concept, to determine feasibility. 
The success is demonstrated through the ability to perform some key use cases, with the expected result. The totallity of the effort (like source code, etc) is reviewed and audited as well. 

The first project was a success, and the second one is still in project for another 6 months, and we're confident it will be a success as well.

How did INDUSTRIA perform from a project management standpoint?

Industria provides a good model of project management: invisible and efficient. 

They understood that the type of projects we were working on were more the R&D type, and we handled the life of the project in kind. They were able to absorb the variability of such projects. I'm very grateful for their attitude that was supportive. 

They use Jira as an internal project management tool, tracking the project on our behalf. We typically communicate via Zoom/Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their engineering work is excellent. The management is also very well-grounded. They have skilled and realistic people. They don't try to oversell the technology. They are willing to dig deep into issues, and were also willing to follow us to think out of the box. And finally, they enjoy their work which makes them enjoyable to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As far as our work relationship is concerned, everything is as it should be. We've worked with many service companies, and they are the best so far by a large margin.

Any advice for potential customers?

They are rational and are committed to getting the job done. They put energy in understanding the scope. They like challenges and they can tackle them. Make sure you exploit their potential.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the co-founder of Finteum, which builds and owns the Finteum Platform, a software platform for banks to trade intraday liquidity with each other.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire INDUSTRIA, and what were your goals?

We engaged with Industria in 2018 to create the first version of our trading platform for banks. The goal was to build the base functionality for the Finteum Platform's central limit order book, both front-end and back-end.

SOLUTION

How did you select INDUSTRIA and what were the deciding factors?

Industria had a great reputation as the leading partner for building Corda solutions, and we had built a good relationship with them over the preceding months.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Our first week was in person in Sofia, where we ironed out the UI design and the plan for the technical build over the subsequent four weeks. The technologies used were R3's Corda, with the back-end written in Kotlin, API communication to the front-end, and the front-end was written in Javascript.

How many people from the INDUSTRIA team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with two back-end engineers, two front-end engineers, one UX/UI designer, a project manager and a relationship manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We were very satisfied with the deliverables and the partnership that we experienced with Industria.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We organised ourselves through weekly sprint planning and daily standups. Finteum's co-founders were on hand for occasional questions and to review daily pull requests. We moved quickly and built a great solution in a short time.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Looking back on it, the UI design capabilities. The code has been replaced or refactored in the meantime, but a lot of the design has survived.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Nothing comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of PowerRegistry. PowerRegistry is a blockchain-enabled platform that improves the verification and tracking of renewable energy by increasing market transparency, reducing settlement times for the generator, and providing customers control over their energy portfolio.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire INDUSTRIA, and what were your goals?

As a founder, I had a clear vision of how to solve an industry problem but I needed a trusted partner to bring that vision into reality. Specifically, I needed an experienced team to develop and code the software.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I discovered INDUSTRIA through an industry Slack channel where I posted a request for developers to bootstrap my idea. INDUSTRIA was one of a handful of developers I met with and was the standout company. INDUSTRIA is a full-service software development firm which could help the project grow beyond just the development phase.

I appreciated that I was developing a long term partnership with the company. They also had a strong portfolio of similar projects and their references provided glowing reviews. INDUSTRIA did not disappoint.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

INDUSTRIA was selected as the technical partner to design and develop a distributed ledger platform to track and trace ownership of renewable energy certificates (RECS). PowerRegistry is built on Corda: R3’s powerful enterprise-grade DLT platform.

The INDUSTRIA team performed the following services during the project implementation:

• Architecture design
• UX design
• Corda DLT blockchain development
• Application development at Angular
• SpringBoot Software
• Testing and quality assurance

The project was delivered using an agile development approach and was performed according to the best industry practices. The project was delivered on time and on budget.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I received tremendous support from the INDUSTRIA team including:

• Project Manager (General)
• Agile Project Manager (Development)
• 1 Senior Developer
• 2 junior developers
• UX & Art Director

The Founder of INDUSTRIA, Petko was also regularly involved to provide guidance and mentorship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

INDUSTRIA delivered a PowerRegistry minimum viable product as defined in our agreement. They delivered the product on time and on budget. Additionally, they provided support that was not detailed in our agreement which included originating grant opportunities to further fund the development of the platform.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Communication and Timelines were never an issue. The Project Manager, Teddy, was particularly proactive and exceptional to work with.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

INDUSTRIA went above and beyond my expectations. I felt tremendous support at all stages of the project. We benefited greatly from partnering with a company that can provide full-service development and design support. The project management was the best of class.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Nothing to add.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Rebalance Earth is launching an ecosystem services platform to fight climate change, protect biodiversity and lift communities out of poverty. My role is as CEO and co-founder

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire INDUSTRIA, and what were your goals?

We hired Industria to build a Corda based blockchain and tokenisation platform on which our business proposition will stand upon. The goals we have from this platform is to provide transparency, traceability and trust in the sustainability marketplace.

SOLUTION

How did you select INDUSTRIA and what were the deciding factors?

Industria are known in the market as being world class developers of Corda. We reached out to a number of Corda development firms but Industria came out on top from personal recommendations and from their history of developing robust Corda platforms.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Industria is developing a Corda based blockchain and tokenisation platform for Rebalance Earth. We had a kick off session with their team and the Rebalance Earth team to scope out the work between us, agree on deliverables, milestones and assign resources for each deliverables.

A project manager was assigned to us along with a Slack channel for effective monitoring of the project. We meet on a weekly basis to track the progress of the project, answer any outstanding questions and to review work accomplished to date. All development is being done on Corda.

How many people from the INDUSTRIA team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There are 4 people in the core team including a project manager, a technical manager and 2 senior developers. There are a number of other developers from a front end and back end basis who join in the team on a case per case basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We were able to hit our first milestone deliverable on schedule in January which has enabled us to receive a first tranche from our grant money provider. We are happy that the deliverable was given on time and to a high level of professionalism.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

They are very communicative and we meet on a weekly basis on Zoom and use Slack very often too.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their technical know-how and how proactive to finding solutions and workaround to problems were impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Nothing comes to mind at this stage, I'm one very happy customer!