Convictional, A Y Combinator Startup, Will Revolutionize The $5 Trillion B2B E-Commerce Market

With the growth of e-commerce in the past two decades, smaller vendors have more significant opportunities to sell to merchandisers and retailers regardless of their size. However, these vendors have difficulty selling to larger entities as the latter relies on legacy transaction software to facilitate receiving goods from the former. Chris Grouchy, 24, and Roger Kirkness, 25, saw this unmet need in the e-commerce market and created Convictional in response. Convictional is a B2B e-commerce platform that allows these small brands and businesses to enable small vendors to sell to any retailer effectively. The San-Francisco-based startup was a part of Y Combinator’s Winter 2019 batch.

Convictional cofounders Roger Kirkness (right) and Chris Grouchy (left).

For a small supplier to sell to a large retailer, the transaction of goods is facilitated through electronic data interchange (EDI) software, which was first created in the 1940s to facilitate military logistics. EDI software allows for the computer-to-computer exchange of data between businesses using a standard electronic format. The type of data being exchanged varies on the companies involved in the transaction. Depending on the retailer, they could use one of the more commonly used EDI standards such as ANSI ASC X12 or GS1 ED1, or rely on a custom one for their unique needs. EDI replaces the…