Here’s How Blockchain Startup KoineArth Is Bringing End-To-End Supply Chain Visibility

Whether it is the British auto major MG selling a brand new vehicle or a local car dealer invoicing a transaction, these often require multiparty communication and visibility as part of the deal flow. For instance, the parties involved in auto deals include manufacturers, dealers, insurance providers, buyback partners and others besides buyers.

Given the current scenario, end-to-end B2B workflows take weeks or even months to execute in spite of the existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) tools used by these parties and the data bridges required for such business activities.

In short, current systems are not able to provide the desired integration and visibility of supply chain processes critical for speed and responsiveness.

To ensure that critical business tasks can be carried out quickly and efficiently with all stakeholders in the loop, Praphul Chandra, founder and CEO of Bengaluru- and Singapore-based blockchain startup KoineArth, has developed a blockchain-based B2B platform called marketsN.

The platform enables real-time and multiparty visibility of orders, optimises inventory levels and automates reconciliation and SLA enforcements by leveraging smart contracts.

MarketsN: Inside The Blockchain-Based Digital Supply Network

An end-to-end solution for enterprises that claims to reduce transaction costs with their business partners and suppliers, KoineArth’s marketsN has been developed as a collaboration platform compatible with many existing ERPs.

Hence, it brings together a company and its suppliers/vendors, insurance providers and all other relevant parties and provides real-time visibility of the workflow, said Chandra.

“The platform has a hybrid architecture,” he explained. “We have used hyperledger fabric to build the private blockchain layer. For the public blockchain, our system supports ethereum and tezos, and very soon, we will support polygon.”

Asked how the platform functions, Chandra detailed the entire process. When an enterprise comes in, marketsN allows it to create groups as per requirements, and the UX design covers a host of features similar to WhatsApp groups or Slack channels.

With built-in tools like role-based access control, incentivised action triggers and smart contract-controlled process compliance, each group evolves depending on the configuration and functions of people added to the group.

“We have seen our (enterprise) customers create these groups between suppliers, contract manufacturers and logistics providers, mostly to digitise their supply chain operations. But groups are also created between their suppliers and banks or finance companies to offer invoice financing or bill discounting or even DPR financing,” he added.

Underneath the hood, hidden from users, KoineArth creates a private blockchain between these companies, said Chandra.

The platform also allows a group admin to determine the level of decentralisation within the group — it can decide whether or not the private blockchain should be connected with the public blockchain.

Based on data and actionable insights, the system can further automate certain actions and thus reduce manual interferences. And, this is how AI-based ERP comes into play.

The company also claims that marketsN is the world’s first enterprise-grade NFT platform. “Now any asset on a private blockchain can be converted to a public blockchain NFT with a click if the public-private blockchain bridge is enabled,” said Chandra.

How Horizontal Platform marketsN Feeds Vertical Needs

As the KoineArth founder said earlier, marketsN is a horizontal solution, which means it can be used across industry verticals. “However, different industries have different requirements. So, we have made the platform extremely configurable, allowing it to be adapted to specific scenarios and use cases,” said Chandra.

Understandably, marketsN has emerged as a cross-enterprise digital ecosystem, underscoring why digitisation must span industrial boundaries, especially where multiple businesses come together on a single platform for collaborative work. That is why the solution has been developed as a horizontal layer in the first place, alongside vertical adaptability.

Chandra cited Hindalco’s example to elaborate on his point.

The manufacturing company operates on a massive scale and uses the marketsN platform for multiple deployments, primarily for its supply chain operations. It wanted to have a higher degree of visibility into its inventory and supply chain and enforce its SLAs with service providers.

These included tracking and monitoring of purchasing orders, shipments and invoices in real-time, in coordination with its suppliers.

Interestingly, even within the company, different plants form different groups as they work with different external partners. That is where the platform’s flexibility makes a full-fledged impact.

Taking Care Of Data Privacy

Citing how KoineArth created a passport for every MG Motor’s car recently to secure users’ data, a consensus-based mechanism for data transactions, Chandra said that his company firmly believes that a user’s personal belongs to that user only.

Therefore, the end customer should have the right to determine who can view their data. Accordingly, access control has been given with regard to each vehicle’s owner’s data.

Hence, even though it is a multiparty group that includes MG Motor, insurance providers and secondary buyback partners, the consent for data visibility at every level comes from the customer.

After getting their consent, all relevant data is shared among enterprises as it forms the backbone of the aftersales ecosystem. For customers, the benefits include lower insurance premiums and higher resale prices.