Founded in 2010, Tiramizoo GmbH is an urban logistics SaaS company headquartered in Munich. Their software helps enterprise companies optimize the flow of last-mile delivery in areas such as parcel business, shop replenishment, e-commerce, maintenance fleets, spare parts delivery among others.

Using Tiramizoo, customers can optimize their delivery routes for a wide variety of goods and services. For example, their earliest customer in Southeast Asia uses Tiramizoo to effectively route the delivery of roll cages for shop replenishment in Manila. And in Singapore, the security company AETOS uses Tiramizoo to optimize teams doing ATM replenishments.

Before participating in German Accelerator, the Tiramizoo team had already established a solid customer base in Germany, ranging from a number of brick–and–mortar retailers to large OEMs, including BMW and Daimler. From 2011 to 2012, Tiramizoo pioneered the concept of same–day delivery in Germany, using their software to coordinate trucks, vans, and delivery drivers. Since their offering included both software and a fleet of physical vehicles and personnel, they had primarily focused on shipping and parcel delivery.

Why Tiramizoo Chose German Accelerator to Expand to Southeast Asia

As Tiramizoo grew, businesses outside of Germany also became interested in their offering. However, the Tiramizoo team realized that they couldn’t scale their same–day delivery services overseas. Instead, they’d only be able to sell their software solution. After securing their first customer in Asia in 2016, the Tiramizoo team met Claus Karthe, a Managing Partner of German Accelerator, in Manila.

Once they saw German Accelerator’s deep network of expert mentors, the Tiramizoo team applied for the Asia Market Access program.

“We liked the concept of having one lead mentor with additional experts,” said Julian Kellermann, Managing director of Tiramizoo Singapore Pte Ltd. “The duration was reasonable and it fitted us quite well.”

With the DACH region as their first business pillar, the Tiramizoo team was ready for an international expansion to set up Southeast Asia as the second major pillar of their business.

How German Accelerator Helped Tiramizoo Complete Their International Expansion

With the help of German Accelerator mentors, the Tiramizoo team decided to make an important business pivot. Instead of offering the same-day delivery service – with physical delivery vans and drivers – in some markets but not in others, the team would go all in on their software-as-a- service (SaaS) offering as they scaled globally.

This pivot would allow them to enter new markets more easily and focus on their software’s greatest strength: optimizing last-mile delivery. Pivoting from physical logistics to pure SaaS also helped with their internationalization into Southeast Asia.

“Our potential customers in Southeast Asia are quite tech savvy, but because some of their logistics are still completed using pen and paper, we knew that we had to be solely tech-based,” said Kellermann.

Expanding into Southeast Asia and setting up a new office in Singapore weren’t easy for a small company with limited resources. In addition, the Tiramizoo team had to figure out how to best work across time zones between Europe and Asia.

“At first, we did not know how to make potential customers confident that our software works reliably and that any outages would be properly handled with an SLA for first-, second-, and third-level support,” said Kellermann. “I would say generating that confidence with prospects and finding our very first customer in Singapore were the biggest challenges at the time.”

However, with the help of German Accelerator, Tiramizoo was connected with potential customers and received a lot of early feedback from the market.

“We started with one customer in 2016, and now we have 12 major B2B customers in Southeast Asia alone,” said Kellermann.

After completing the program, the Tiramizoo team still stays in close contact with German Accelerator and can count on their support. For example, the German Accelerator team once helped Tiramizoo secure a conference room in Singapore for an urgent last-minute meeting with a prospect.

“We started with one customer in 2016, and now we have 12 major B2B customers in Southeast Asia alone.”

 

Julian Kellermann | Managing Director at Tiramizoo Singapore Pte Ltd

What Tiramizoo Achieved Post–Program & Beyond

After finishing the German Accelerator program, the Tiramizoo team met a number of successes at home and abroad. In 2020, Tiramizoo won the World Post and Parcel Award for Innovation. And in 2022, Tiramizoo was highlighted in the latest Market Guide for Last-Mile Delivery by analysts at Gartner.

In Singapore, Tiramizoo completed a successful proof-of-concept (POC) with the GovTech government agency for a project visualizing and simulating the flow of commuters on public transport (i.e. last-mile mobility). Now, Tiramizoo is an officially listed supplier to GovTech for future projects.

With a growing customer base in both Germany and Singapore, the Tiramizoo team has also started an expansion into Malaysia, with plans for the rest of the region.

“Vietnam and Indonesia are also on the horizon,” said Kellermann.

In terms of their product roadmap, Tiramizoo plans to broaden the capabilities of their last-mile SaaS offering to include not just parcels and physical goods, but other aspects of logistics, such as commuters, scheduling, and more.

“German Accelerator challenges you to grow your startup like never before, but you have to ask for it, work with it, and work for it. The final answer will not be handed to you.”

 

Julian Kellermann | Managing Director at Tiramizoo Singapore Pte Ltd

Advice for Other German Founders Considering an International Expansion

When asked what advice they would give to other German startup founders considering an international expansion, Kellermann encouraged entrepreneurs to bring a lot of energy to the expansion process.

“The German Accelerator program is not an elementary school,” said Kellermann. “It doesn’t just bring you something without any work on your part. It challenges you to grow your startup like never before, but you have to ask for it, work with it, and work for it. The final answer will not be handed to you.”

As for which startup accelerator German entrepreneurs should consider for an international expansion, Kellermann thinks the choice is clear.

“From my point of view, I highly recommend German Accelerator,” said Kellermann.