What the business is
Branded mobile apps and websites for B2B wholesalers and distributors, synchronised with their ERP or accounting system every five minutes
The bet
Wholesalers will pay for a branded ordering app and site that syncs with their existing ERP, replacing phone calls, WhatsApp and field sales visits
Starting capital
€100,000 investment from Startup Wise Guys
How it started
In the Tech.eu interview, Diskan, who had worked at B2C e-commerce startups in Turkey and London, says a London food wholesaler approached him in 2019 for a B2B ordering app. He delivered it as a side project and moved on. In late 2020 a Dublin wholesaler asked for the same, and after more conversations with food wholesalers he saw a gap in the market.
What happened
He hired a developer and built an MVP integrated with an ERP a friend had developed. In 2022 he and his team attended the Food & Drink Expo in the UK and heard that wholesalers disliked their ERP providers for being desktop-based. Startup Wise Guys then invested €100,000. Diskan says most customers arrived by word of mouth, and that one wholesaler with about €100M turnover is replacing its ERP with Simplisales.
What has to be true
Two wholesalers asked unprompted for the same custom app, in 2019 and late 2020
Wholesalers used phone, WhatsApp and field sales rather than online ordering, and their ERPs were desktop-only
Syncing with the customer's own ERP keeps prices and stock current without manual entry
What can be applied
Two unprompted requests for the same custom app were the signal; Diskan then used trade-show conversations to learn that the ERP, not the storefront, was the buyers' real problem.
Aftermath
As of October 2024 Simplisales reported 10 staff, over €20M cumulative GMV and plans to add a marketing add-on and AI cross-sell features, per the founder's own account.
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