STOCKMEIER invests in search engine chembid

11-Jan-2019 - Germany

The STOCKMEIER Group, one of the biggest family-run distributors in the European chemical sector, has become a shareholder of the German technology start-up chembid. The young company developed a global metasearch engine and online-platform for chemicals and related services, connecting buyers and sellers of chemicals online. chembid will use the capital increase to develop the search engine further and expand its data-based services for chemical companies.

The chemical company STOCKMEIER, based in Bielefeld, Germany, announced its investment in the start-up chembid. This is the first strategic partnership that the spin-off of the BÜFA Group enters. “We’re happy to announce the participation of the STOCKMEIER group,” said Christian Bürger, Managing Director of chembid, “It shows that a necessary change in the chemicals business has been recognized, enabling us to further promote the digitization of the chemical sector with another strong partner by our side.”

chembid‘s metasearch engine has been available since October 2017 and offers a digital solution for the purchasing and selling of chemicals. Using modern digital technologies, the company collects, processes and bundles information about providers and offers from web shops and marketplaces, making them easily accessible to their clients. Commercial buyers can gain quick insights into the market, compare international offers in a matter of minutes, and contact the vendor with the most suitable offer immediately. With chembid’s tender feature, they can also generate tenders directly via the platform. On the other hand, because of large number of users worldwide, chemical suppliers can greatly boost their global reach. Currently, there are about two million product offers by around 100,000 suppliers from over 160 countries available. Thus, both buyers and sellers can find business partners around the world within a few mouse clicks.

Through the extensive data from – among other things – product and supplier information as well as buyer search behavior, with the help of modern data analysis methods, companies gain new insights on critical market information. With these, chembid aims at giving its clients a competitive edge by providing information and analysis tools on the platform, so they can better recognize market potential and initiate targeted measures. chembid enjoys growing popularity. Since the beginning of the year 2018, the platform has mushroomed by about 800 % to over 35,000 current monthly users.

Promotion of the digital transformation

For almost one hundred years, STOCKMEIER has been working in the area of distribution, production and services for the chemical sector. “In the world of chemistry, information and data will play an important role going forward. In chembid, we see a news aggregator for products and their accessibility on the Internet, and thus engage in a business model of the future,” states executive partner Peter Stockmeier. The STOCKMEIER Group is the second shareholder of the technology start-up spun off from the BÜFA group two years ago.“Digitization changes the whole chemical sector and as a result the client relationships – the way customers and suppliers get in touch with each other as well as the information sought by clients – are changing, too. With the spin-off of chembid we didn’t just react to this development but wanted to actively shape it. Alongside STOCKMEIER we offer more partners the possibility to take part in chembid’s successful business concept and drive digital transformation forward”, explains Felix Thalmann, CEO of BÜFA Holding. chembid wants to use STOCKMEIER’s investment to further develop their metasearch engine, complement more data-based services and promote global marketing.

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