Startup Spotlight Q&A: Vistory
Each year as technology advances, problems that were once seen as unsolvable are now quaint reminders of the past. Communication can be done at lightning speed, software and apps of all kinds help us simplify our routines and optimize our efficiency.
One exciting development that continues to gain prominence is 3D printing. Already several companies and manufacturers around the world are using 3D printing as an integral part of their process. This solution however does not come without some additional problems to be solved as some forms of internet piracy and theft are taking place with creators of 3D modeling sometimes not receiving compensation for their work.
Vistory is a company that seeks to revolutionize and streamline the 3D printing industry for companies around the world. We took some time to speak with Alexandre Pedemonte to ask him more about himself, his vision, and his company, Vistory.
Founder Bio
Alexandre Pédemonte, CEO and founder of Vistory, spent 20 years as an IT consultant in charge of transformation programs for large companies. In 2014, he founded Vistory from scratch, in his own flat with a group of friends and without any help from VCs or other traditional funding sources. From those humble beginnings, Alexandre has created Vistory. Vistory develops software based on Blockchain and Cloud technologies. Now only 7 years since the company’s founding, they work with famous references such as the French Ministry of Defense, Nexter, Naval Group, Oracle, etc.
In a sentence, what does your company do?
Vistory is bringing the 3D printing industry to its full potential.
Describe how and when your company came to be.
The digital nature of the additive manufacturing (fancy word for 3D printing) process carries with it a significant risk for fraud.
If a spare part is created via software, how can we know that part complies with specifications or has been verified?
It’s not unlike the early days of music on the internet, before Apple and other DRM platforms came to prominence. You may recall that piracy was everywhere as people were illegally sharing music all over the internet. In a nutshell, MainChain is like Spotify for the manufacturing industry.
What makes your company different in this marketplace?
With MainChain, our seamless blockchain platform, we bridge all the stakeholders together, which preserves privacy, trade secrets, and industrial property.
Our main client, the French Ministry of Defense (MoD) has benefited from Vistory in three major ways:
1) When you need to be off the grid, as a client you can be trusted by your suppliers when you produce spare parts involving their liability;
2) Delivering spare parts where delivery access is very expensive and complicated;
3) Monetize additive manufacturing for the MoD and its industrials.
What KPIs are you tracking that you think will lead to revenue generation/growth?
We watch 3D printing market share progression and stocks tickers of pure player companies like Stratasys, 3D Systems, Materialise. We also stay connected with the oil and gas industry (Total, Technip), the aerospace and defense (Dassault, Safran, ESA), and the heavy industry (Naval Group, Alstom) as well as regulators (DNV, AFNOR, ANSM). We are in a multibillion-dollar market, and in the last 6 months, we have generated 3.5M€ of qualified leads.
How do you build and develop talent?
We’ve hired talent from the French land forces CDO, General Olivier Kempf as Strategic Director and Prodways northern Europe Sales Manager, Franck Fabre, as Chief Sales Officer
We have also set a scientific committee with Professor Kavé Salamatian, a cybersecurity specialist, and Professor Alain Bernard, additive manufacturing specialist, and Created partnerships with famous schools such as Epitech, ENSAM, and Ecole Centrale Nantes.
What’s been the biggest success for the team?
Our biggest success has been the opportunity to be the enabler of operations on the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, with our partner Stratasys and our client the French Navy. We are going to visit the Charles de Gaulle in July when it will be back from operations!
Have you been or are you part of a corporate startup program or accelerator? If so, which ones and what have been the benefits?
We are part of Oracle for Startups program and the benefits are huge. We get a 70% discount on the infrastructure hosting, access to events such as Hannover Messe, industry analyst opportunities, and published articles where we are in the spotlight. We are also part of DefStart incubator acceleration program developed by the Defense Industry Resource Center (CID). This program allows us to create a new location in Bourges territory, the first Center of Excellence in land armaments in Europe, and to access a dynamic network of companies in the defense and security field.
