Having looked back at our blogs, I was startled to see we’ve published nothing since February. For Vesta, as for businesses everywhere, the pandemic has had a profound impact. Much of the focus on plastic pollution has been lost in an effort to maintain the global economy – a justifiable, if dreadful trade off. Some 194bn disposable masks and gloves were being made each month (based on an estimate from August). The environmental impact of this may take some years to fully comprehend.
It has now been almost exactly two years since we started Vesta in earnest. Winning a space on the 2019 IoT Startupbootcamp accelerator was the catalyst for moving the company from an interesting idea to something that Vesta’s founders (me, Elisabeth, Web Dave and Dr Dave) were ready to heavily invest our time, money and effort into establishing as a real company.
The great news is we’re in a stronger position than ever as we run into the end of what must have been one of the most challenging trading years in history. A few highlights:

• Our client base has grown from one to four. We’ve focused on driving sales into large clients, and our client’s annual revenues exceed $100bn
• Our revenue is on track to grow by a factor of more than ten in 2020 – achieving the fabled ‘10x’. This revenue growth helped us decide to pause our funding round in February, and pay ourselves for the first time this summer. We may well decide to try and raise again in the future, but we’re strong enough now to wait for the right partners in the right market conditions.
• The technology in our solution is unrecognisable from what we were delivering at this time last year. Our packages now support short range communications technology (NFC/RFID) and we’re able to handle packages with weights anywhere between 50kg and 0.01g.
• Our use cases are expanding. Vesta was designed for low interest home care products – dishwasher tablets, detergent etc. – but we’re now working in personal care, food & beverage, wholesale and are talking to pharmaceutical companies about using our technology for drug monitoring and adherence.
• We’re developing partnerships with traditional packaging and logistics companies to bring a more comprehensive Vesta solution to our customers.
• We have had a Vesta package in market for 12 months (as of October 30th). It has taken readings on more than 270 days, been refilled over half a dozen times and used just 3% of its battery. Considering how far our technology has come in those 12 months, I am really excited to see what the next generation Vestas can do.

Challenging conditions, such as those we’ve all experienced over the last eight months can often make it seem like investing in transformation and innovation is too much of a risk. The pandemic has changed the way business is done, perhaps forever. Yet consumers want convenience, they are ready to pay for sustainably delivered products and the market for direct-to-consumer has never been stronger. Do get in touch if you’d like to understand more about what Vesta can do to help your business.
Tom