Press Release – Innovate UK awards funding to blockchain startup eTEU to help combat the COVID-19 effects

• eTEU has secured a grant of £117,000 from InnovateUK, as part of the UK Sustainable Innovation Fund.
• eTEU will use the funding to develop blockchain based solutions to help UK businesses solve supply chain challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, is financially supporting 1,103 projects and 1069 UK businesses with an amount totalling over £130 million across various sectors to rebuild after the effects of COVID-19.

Jenson SEIS Fund portfolio company eTEU, a London based startup focused on documentation process optimisation and digitalisation in the maritime logistics industry has been awarded funding from Innovate UK Sustainable Innovation Fund to develop blockchain based solutions which will help UK businesses solve supply chain challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Innovate UK Executive Chair, Dr Ian Campbell, said:

“eTEU Technologies, along with every initiative Innovate UK has supported through this fund, is an important step forward in driving sustainable economic development. Each one is also helping to realise the ambitions of hard-working people.”

Eduard Oboimov, CEO and Co-Founder at eTEU, said:

“We appreciate the trust that Innovate UK has put into our project, and we are honoured to be part of the initiative. Now more than ever, the shipping industry is seeing an increased interest and need in the digitisation of their work processes, including the document drafting and transfer elements. We are working closely with our partners to make sure that their needs are met and will be using this grant to bring the blockchain technology to the SME businesses in the UK.”

Innovate UK drives productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realise the potential of new ideas. Within the Sustainable Innovation Fund Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, is financially supporting 1,103 projects and 1069 UK businesses with an amount totalling over £130 million across various sectors to rebuild after the effects of COVID-19.

The eTEU platform allows exporters, freight forwarders as well as other members involved in the international supply chain to significantly decrease administrative expenses and to optimise their operations.

This is achieved by connecting different members of the international supply chain to the single blockchain based platform, helping to break information silos, and enabling the transition from inefficient paper-based documentation to the management of shipment in a digital format.

The platform also enables the automation of repetitive bureaucracies involved in organising a cross-border shipment, such as trade documentation drafting, as the result significantly reducing the amount of time required to organise a shipment. The users no longer have to fill out the documents one by one, but instead can generate the entire document package instantly.