DBX, a new dry bulk commodity analytics firm based in London, officially launched earlier this year having successfully completed Signal Venture’s incubation program, and it has now initiated a round of seed funding.
The venture started in the summer of 2020 with all around support from Signal Ocean. This support included financial, data, technology and recruitment, OilX, an oil commodity analytics firm previously launched by Signal, also provided high level technical support.
DBX uses satellite technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to fuse multiple data sources and provide real-time insights into coal, iron ore, bauxite and alumina supply and demand. Customers include commodity producers and traders, banks, hedge funds, steel mills and power utilities.
DBX chief executive Alexandre Claude said, “Progress at DBX has been fast and we are now adding metals, further minerals and grains onto our platform. We have developed a unique product for a hitherto opaque market. By combining vessel movements and cargo tracking with customs data, satellite observations of commodity stockpiles and cleaning and refining unstructured third party data, we are opening up trading opportunities and increasing supply chain efficiency.”
According to DBX, its progress has been accelerated by its partnership with Signal Ventures, the strategic investment arm of the Signal Group, a provider of technology, data and commercial solutions to the shipping industry. Signal Ventures offers its partners access to unique data processing capabilities, vessel port calls, emissions, port and weather information, venture capital, mentoring and hands-on team building support. Signal Ventures also provides business support including accounting, legal and HR activities so that founders can focus on their product.
Signal Venture’s VP, Nikolas Pyrgiotis, said, “We are delighted to see another company successfully launch out of our incubator program. I’m proud to see the Signal team help take DBX to the next level. It can often be a struggle for early stage start-ups to recruit data scientists and programmers, but as an established organization with an ecosystem of shipping and maritime trade related platforms, we are able to offer interesting and varied opportunities to some of the brightest and best brains in the market.”
OilX, a UK-based oil analytics company, is also a product of the Signal Ventures incubator program and has been involved with the development of DBX from the outset.
OilX CEO Florian Thaler said, “The solutions which DBX is bringing to the dry bulk space are similar to those provided by OilX for oil markets. Data related to the movement and supply of dry and wet commodities are generally very choppy and hard to collect, and analysts using the data suffer from time lags. We support DBX with our technology and know-how and are excited to see another market transformed with real-time, actionable insights.”
