We founded Aespada in 2018, upon graduating from the MSc in Technopreneurship & Innovation programme at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Our mission was to accelerate the digitalisation of material logistics for the construction industry.
Our core product - AespadaSL - is an on-demand heavy vehicle booking platform connecting construction companies to a network of logistics suppliers. This allowed companies to book reliable transportation for manpower and materials. Like a ride-sharing app, the platform would give users the ability to track their material deliveries in real time.
As founders with years of experience in the construction industry, we saw transportation as a relatively untouched innovation area. Our platform was built to help companies save on their transportation costs. However, we found it difficult to find customers who could readily grasp our concept and go through the client journey.
When we participated in BEAMP for the first time, our solution was aimed at a wide range of stakeholders and was not validated by a specific target market. As an industrial developer that master plans and develops green and smart estates such as one-north, Punggol Digital District, and Jurong Innovation District, JTC provided us with inputs and expertise that allowed us to narrow the focus of our solution and expand its capabilities to add value.
A new delivery management system - AespadaDMS - was born. This new platform allows main contractors to trace, schedule, prioritise, and manage every single delivery coming into their construction site. This prevents traffic congestion and bottlenecks at the site, saving hours of waiting and queueing time for lorries. There is a corresponding reduction in carbon emissions around the site. Suppliers and subcontractors are also held accountable for their deliveries.
The Market Development (MD) phase was conducted in collaboration with Boustead and Dragages Singapore, who wished to track and schedule incoming deliveries at their sites. These trials helped us make modifications to our own software to better integrate with their site management systems.
In addition to the valuable inputs, JTC also connected us to major construction companies, many of whom have become our customers. Overall, we have clocked over 10,000 transactions, demonstrating a great product-market fit.
BEAMP allowed us to develop our capabilities in AI and image recognition further, so that we could provide better recommendations for vehicles using images, and also authenticate drivers on the job using facial recognition. We are also driving more sustainable outcomes. Our platform has allowed some of our customers to reduce the size of their own vehicle fleets and therefore their carbon footprints.
Our platform also allows companies to book buses to transport their workers between dormitories and work sites, instead of conventional lorries. This ensures better safety for workers. We have been featured in the Straits Times and on CNA for our efforts to effect such positive changes.
Overall, we had an excellent experience participating in BEAMP. We are now looking forward to addressing more sustainability objectives with our solution, and to entering new markets across Asia Pacific.
Jean Christophe Li
Co-founder, Aespada
