Blue Pallet & Sila
Providing an Interconnected Commerce App in an Industry That Direly Needed it: The Chemical Industry
Sila was the first partner to really establish a relationship. [They got] to know our business. What truly set them apart was their understanding of our business and also, their ability to accommodate what we needed to accomplish. They freed up a lot of our own resources, our own time. They acted both as a coach but also as a shield to protect our resources, time and money.
Back to all stories
Blue Pallet & Sila:
At a Glance
Simplified e-Commerce platform for manufacturers, distributors, and end-users in the chemical industry.
An ecommerce platform to streamline transactions in the chemical industry, powered by Sila technology.
The unique market that COVID created presented Blue Pallet co-founders with an interesting opportunity: a way to merge a B2B payment company (Velocci) with a Chemical Exchange Market (EchoSystem). What they found was that with the right tools, technology, and partners, they could build trust, and due diligence in ecommerce, in a market that needed it the most.
While a merger and new business during a global pandemic and recession is not necessarily a cakewalk, the co-founders of Blue Pallet did just that, and launched their product in 2021. Blue Pallet was launched with the help of Sila and several entrepreneurs and business owners, all with the idea to bring a much-needed product into the chemical industry.
Establishing Sila as the first strong relationship, Blue Pallet could grow its platform, giving Blue Pallet a range of features, functionality, and freedom
Expanding traditional e-Commerce with market network experience in the chemical industry, Blue Pallet gives stakeholders in the Chemical industry the tools to simplify financials in a complicated and regulated industry.
Blue Pallet knew about the importance of regulatory compliance but wanted help getting that off the ground. Sila stepped in to do the heavy lifting.
Sila’s fintech marketplace gives Blue Pallet a virtual never-ending resource of feature add-ons and scalability when they’re ready.
The Goal
Provide an interconnected commerce app in an industry that direly needed it: The Chemical industry
Scott Barrows had sold his company in the ticketing industry. During this development period, Barrows filled a need for making commerce in that sector much more approachable and sensible. Blue Pallet is based on a platform Barrows created, which is also being used in companies like Ticketmaster, Live Nation, and the NFL.
What emerged from a few years of difficult merging of systems, frustration, and trial-and-error is an end-to-end chemical commerce platform that provides clear solutions for search, logistics, transactions, and much more in the chemical industry.
Barrows had the technology for his platform, but finances was obviously a critical part of this app's success. Here is where Sila came into the picture.
Without Sila
- Becoming a bank agent or finding (and struggling) to form a reliable relationship with a bank partnership.
- Figuring out all of the needs for financial and fintech regulatory compliance involves a heavy learning curve and lots of time and resources.
- Starting up an app with a small pool of investors, even though you need to fund all of the compliance needs.
- Providing users with only some features since adding features without Sila is time-consuming and costly, and has to be configured to the pre-existing technology.
- Problem-solving and making major decisions that new business owners and fintech owners might not have the experience to make confidently.
With Sila
- Gaining access to a strong and reliable bank partnership through Sila who is also a bank agent.
- Being freed up from figuring out all regulatory compliance, to focus on improving the product, seeking funding, and getting it out there.
- Being able to start up more affordably with SIla’s packaged payment-as-a-service option alleviates Blue Pallet owners from most of the compliance spending (which can be up in the thousands).
- Using Sila's pre-approved fintech marketplace, where Blue Pallet can easily tap in and add on financial features when they’re ready.
- Having Sila’s powerful team of experts as a sounding board for bouncing ideas off of and expanding what’s possible.
A new financial world, built by you.
Sila offers a simple, secure, and scalable banking API to make money programmable with built-in regulatory compliance.
The Results
Blue Pallet founders knew they had a market, but they needed the financial tools and resources to deliver. With Sila, they were able to launch their product in 2021, providing core commerce functions to users in the chemical industry.
Referred to as an end-to-end solution for chemical e-commerce, Blue Pallet provides the following products:
- TradeHub: A MarketPlace and WantedBoard that provides safe and simple ways to connect with an expansive network of verified suppliers.
- TradePass: A digital passport that can authenticate, digitize, store and share all related data (in one place), making connections with suppliers and distributors simple.
- TradeCart: A checkout built for executing payments, extending financing, managing tax liabilities, and automating real-time logistics with just a few clicks.
With network opportunities, secure payments, and a checkout all wrapped up in Blue Pallet, this platform improves commerce in the industry, connecting key distributors, manufacturers, and end-users together into one approachable and streamlined marketplace. With Sila’s financial technology as its back-end support, users will be able to access integrated check-out, a strong payments infrastructure, and a user-friendly experience.
Result 1
Blue Pallet had a strong platform, but they needed someone who was an expert in financial technology, ACH API technology and financial regulatory compliance in the U.S. Sila was a great partner for Blue Pallet as they came to the relationship ready to go! Sila’s ability to dive into the vision of their clients and give them the resources they need to build their app made Blue Pallet’s development a major success.
Result 2
Once they signed on with Sila, Blue Pallet knew that they could rely on the expertise and had much of the compliance heavy-lifting handled. From money transmitter licensing (MTL) to anti-money laundering AML laws and Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations, Sila helped them get settled in with the necessary financial stuff so that Blue Pallet could focus on their product.
Result 3
Sila’s affordability, functionality, and ease meant that Blue Pallet could start up quickly, without having to raise millions of dollars like most people think is required in startups. Blue Pallet’s developers were able to quickly assimilate current technology with the Sila APIs to provide bank account linking, digital wallets, and money transfer technology to end-users.
Result 4
Starting up with Sila became far easier. Sila’s financial technology powers all of the money transactions on the Blue Pallet app, handling eCommerce API requests, financial automation, and much more.
A new financial world, built by you.
Sila offers a simple, secure, and scalable banking API to make money programmable with built-in regulatory compliance.