February 24, 2022

Sid Chakravarthy: Supply Chain Monitoring, the Metaverse and NFTs

35 minutes

On this episode, Sabine VdL interviews Sid Chakravarthy, founder and CEO of StaTwig and a leading expert in emerging technology, including the Internet of Things, Blockchain, Metaverse, and NFTs. Sid uses these to develop solutions with large-scale social impact.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

There are big problems with drugs and vaccines when you look at the last-mile delivery system, or indeed getting to the people who really need them. They get damaged, spoiled, or stolen to be sold on black markets, so I thought I could use my ‘Bay-area skills’ to solve real-world problems, and that’s how I started the company.

Supply chains are complex networks of partners who work together to bring a product to the final consumer. But there’s a lot of confusion and a lack of interoperability when it comes to sharing information. They all track the product as it passes through their own company, but it stops when they pass it on to the next partner. We provide end-to-end visibility into how the product moves through the supply chain, leveraging blockchain.

The data this technology provides is scalable; underwriters can use it to assess risks across the supply chain: how much product is being damaged? How do I write a policy for that? You can prevent specific claims from happening because you have full transparent visibility of key data points. And those show that there could be a failure in one part of the supply chain or another.

The Metaverse and NFTs are not that complex at all. Think of a gamer: he is involved in, and essentially lives in, a full-time game, talking to people, buying and selling things, etc. Scale that up to non-gamers, imagine an alternate world where people can plug in and do what they want: shopping, clubbing, travel, building a home, anything. The possibilities are endless. That’s the Metaverse, a digital reality where you can plug in anytime and live fully in it. NFTs are certificates of ownership for digital art. 500 million people might have that digital art on their laptop, but there’s only one certificate that says “this is the actual owner of it and all the copies”. Think about your Picasso or Rembrandt. Can you prevent the copies? No, but you may be able to in the future with NFTs! This gives you the right to use, sell, brand, and rent that product (digitally) for any commercial purpose. Consider using your digital art and assets in the Metaverse.

BEST MOMENTS

‘When I started the company, vaccines were a very boring product, Covid made it very attractive all of a sudden! But by then, we already had a solution to solve some big problems with Covid.’

‘Internet access and blockchain technology have allowed the birth of a new kind of transparency and visibility. This could never have been done as easily before. And this is because the customer is asking for it.’

‘Once the product moves from one touch point to another ("airport to courier" or "from manufacturer to consumer") we are annotating the journey and telling the story of it as it moves along its path transparently. Each item has its own tracking number and lots of tracking data about each individual product within each container.’

‘NFTs can act as a way of bringing your real-world products into the Metaverse by using what is called a true certificate of ownership, allowing you to transact digitally within the new internet.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

StatWig is a platform that ensures the safe, high-quality supply of vaccines. The platform provides continuous visibility and actionable insights to enable real-time decision-making.

Sid is a leader in emerging technologies, including the Internet of Things (IoT) and Blockchain. He uses these technologies to develop solutions with large-scale social impact across the world's supply chains.

Sid launched StatWig 6 years ago to record the journey of products across supply chains from manufacturer to customer to create an extra layer of visibility, transparency, and authenticity.

The team has worked with customers such as UNICEF, Gavi, NASDAQ, and the World Economic Forum, among others.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sidchakravarthy/

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://statwig.com/ & https://www.linkedin.com/company/statwig/

ABOUT THE HOST

Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.

If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.

And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]

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