Ziliot, a business social network whose founders met thanks to a German startup, has gone into public beta. Finnish founders Aniekan Okono, Tuan Vu, Petri Hirvimaki and Juha Kovanen met on Founder2be in 2011.
Their new service offers manufacturing firms interested in selling abroad the chance to meet buyers and sellers in emerging economies but with a reduced risk of fraudulent contacts. It will also enable SMEs, professionals and government authorities in developed and developing countries to find and interact with each other.
Aniekan said: “Ziliot saves time and money when searching for credible contacts and also offers product promotion with a B2B marketplace for manufacturing firms, German firms included, to showcase their products.”
Ziliot is one of the big success stories to come out of Founder2be, which allows users to search for the right project partners – be it co-founders, developers, sales experts or anyone else who has the required skill set. Co-founders Oliver Bremer and Frank Haubenschild also introduced a Global Alliance Program to link up entrepreneurs with incubators and innovation hubs around the world.
Oliver told Silicon Allee last year that finding the right person can be a tricky prospect: “I think that, just like online dating, I highly recommend you meet someone before you get married, and that’s what we encourage as well. At least have a Skype conversation, and if you can get together in person, that’s great.”