DueTrade, a Norfolk-based software firm, has been recognised as a ‘rising star’ in a national awards programme.
Founded by Henry Dewing, DueTrade develops customisable business-to-business (B2B) apps for agriculture and construction firms, and has ambitions to sell its technology to breweries, wholesalers and food-service companies.
The company was a winner in the Rising Star category for the London and East of England region of the StartUp Awards National Series – with the ceremony held at BOXPARK Wembley in London on Thursday, September 8.
In July 2021, founder Henry Dewing was awarded an Innovative Farming Award by the Aylsham Agricultural Show Association.
“Winning our second award in just under two years of business is definitely something to be really proud of,” said Henry.
“There are days as a founder that are really tough, but when you enter something like this and a whole panel of judges sees the value in your business, it shows that we're on the right track and obviously doing something right.”
Henry launched DueTrade after initially developing an app for his father’s grain-trading business, Dewing Grain, which purchases grain from farmers and sells it to grain maltsters and millers.
“I’d been working in London, in software sales predominantly, and it was very obvious the way the world was going,” Henry explained. “I think the average screen time in the UK is four hours a day, and that will just continue to increase. My thought was ‘why would you not want to put your business in your customers’ pockets?’
“Once my family’s company and the traders saw the value in it, I realised I could use my previous software sales experience and sell it into other industries that would benefit,” he added. “Traditional industries like millers, breweries, builders, merchants, wholesalers, food-service companies – where you can just simplify the process of ordering goods.”
DueTrade has since built bespoke apps for the GoodMills Group, the largest wheat-milling company in Europe, and a multinational construction firm.
“It’s their customers that use their app,” Henry explained. “They download it for free, and then they can order their goods, see their old invoices, receive notifications of offers and promotions – things like that. It’s basically just a modern way of doing business in typically traditional industries.”
The company recently raised £115,000 from angel investors, which will go towards product development and recruitment. “It's really exciting to have people on board who also see the growth potential in DueTrade,” said Henry, adding that it would be “brilliant” to expand the team to 15 people in three years’ time – and possibly offer four-and-a-half day weeks.
“We're a tech business, and with that you're meant to be very modern and forward-thinking,” he continued. “I want to build DueTrade as a company where people genuinely enjoy coming to work.”
Henry is also keen to develop a more “off-the-shelf” app to complement the customised products that DueTrade has built to date. “We want to build a white-labelled product that can be used by multiple companies with their own branding,” he said.
For more information, visit www.duetrade.co.uk
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