eezyimport, a Delaware-based company that is in the business of DIY Customs Clearance Compliance has combined its daily passion for innovative technology and creative problem solving with four decades of market leadership in helping small businesses to navigate the complex and costly world of importing. Its vision is very clear. Regtech Times had a conversation with the CEO of eezyimports, Asaf Fridenson. Let’s look at some of the excerpts from the same-
“To Empower small importers with innovative solutions by removing their obstacles to growth and leaving more cash in their pocket.”
How do you define the term Regtech?
Our platform allows the users to file their imports directly to the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), with a simplified regulatory process that allows all parties transparency and the ability to monitor filing statuses. You can check the definition of Regtech here
How big is your team and who are the critical players in your journey to build the successful Regtech company?
Our team has 10 employees. The biggest emphasis as far as succeeding as a RegTech company must be on the development team.
A brief overview of your product offering?
Customs brokerage is still mainly done locally, as people believe that proximity to the port is essential. Most of the process, however, became paperless long ago. Nowadays import boundaries are mainly eliminated by bilateral agreements. We provide our users with an easy and simple technological way to handle their customs.
Qualified American importers can be assigned a filer code by the US customs regulator (CBP), making them completely independent. For such importers, eezyimport is the only SAAS solution available.
For those who don’t meet CBP’s requirements, we’ve created a designated custom Broker Module, designed to provide the smaller importers with an alternative.
In this module, we support our DIY users with a customs broker that reviews, confirms, and eventually files their Entry Summaries, all while providing our users with complete control and full transparency of the process, keeping it seamless and simple and with no hidden costs…
What inspired you to build the above product?
We started eezyimport two years ago as part of the Fridenson group. I was the group’s customs manager back then and as a tech enthusiast, I realized how simple the process can be. With a vision of simplifying the process and eliminating the boundaries for American importers, I was drawn to start eezyimport as the group tech spinoff and innovation department. Seed funding came from the Fridenson group, and now we are open to the first series of external funding.
What was the most critical aspect of your journey as the CEO of Eezyimports?
eezyimport’s main customs clearance module was launched in the mid of the Covid19 pandemic, around April this year. One of the most challenging aspects of my journey was deciding whether we keep developing the company and investing in R&D, or cutting our losses and shutting it down.
We’ve decided to keep the company up and running regardless of the timing in the hope that although the future seems unclear more than ever, better times will come.
How did you overcome the initial mindset challenges of the regulators?
We have years of experience with customs around the world, so we came into this prepared for a challenge.
The CBP seems to embrace many digital processes, which makes our job easier. Other processes have yet to have been digitalized, but we believe that this will also change in the near future so that eventually the whole clearance process will become a digital one.
Where do you see yourself in the next three years?
Covid 19 changed the way we think and the way we work. On the one hand, every one of us must invent himself to stay essential, and on the other, we are all living in uncertainty that keeps us from investing in changing and evolving. Businesses must find a new path for their customers, giving them better service with a new approach. Technology was given a boost due to Covid, and it is the primary solution allowing us to cope these days.
We believe that eezyimport was the opening shot for inventing the new generation of import solutions, and we are already working on our next eezy module for LCL freight. We starting with customs and regulatory compliance and are thriving to support our users with an ecosystem that will simplify their import process to the full until finally becoming the supply chain solution for SMB importers wherever they may be.
Which countries do you feel you can expand to with your offerings?
Anywhere in the world where customs became digitalized and paperless.
Your thoughts on the use of technologies like Blockchain, RPA, and Machine Learning in the Regulatory Domain.
Machine learning is the next level of trade compliance. we are investigating this path for our future developments and believe the next stage will make the life of importers much easier and less complicated.
