Before the agreement
Scattered catalogues and private price knowledge make it difficult to compare available volume, quality, location and lead time. Small makers may depend on someone else to reach the buyer.
COTO / INVESTOR OVERVIEW
A clearer market.
A wider share
of opportunity.
A proposed business platform for the global carpet industry, connecting trade with the information, people and services needed to make it work.
Development-stage proposition. This page explains the business model and validation plan. It does not publish an investment offer, valuation or promised returns.
THE PROBLEM TO SOLVE
Good products.
Incomplete information.
COTO’s original proposals identify an informal market where delayed information and opaque intermediation can make good trades harder to form and complete.
Inside the agreement
Vague specifications, unclear responsibilities and incomplete payment terms can produce a deal that neither side understands in the same way.
After the agreement
Late production updates, disconnected documents and unconfirmed receipts make delivery, claims and outstanding balances difficult to reconcile.
COTO’s intended response: a structured brief, comparable offers and one agreed order record. Better information should help suitable buyers and sellers reach clearer agreements. It cannot guarantee market liquidity, a sale or a particular price.
WHAT COTO WOULD OFFER
The exchange and
the work behind it.
Business buyers and sellers would subscribe to agreed platform services. Tailored programmes would support the capacity and market readiness needed to participate.
Discover suitable counterparties.
Business profiles and enquiries connect carpet specifications, stock or capacity, origin, order volume, dispatch location, destination and delivery dates. Intended users include weaver enterprises, manufacturers, exporters, importers, distributors and commercial buyers.
Compare on the same basis.
Bring offers against a defined brief. Review counterparties, samples and evidence, then agree USD prices, quality tolerances, inspection, shipping responsibilities, dates, payment milestones and a claims process.
Follow the order through.
A proposed carpet passport links maker, origin and supporting evidence. One order reference connects documents, delivery events, invoices, confirmed receipts, adjustments and remaining payables or receivables.
Prepare the business to trade.
Scoped work can address market entry, consortium branding, capacity and cluster coordination, standards, benchmarking and process improvement. Delivery would follow a baseline study, recommendations, implementation and review.
INCLUSION WITH ACCOUNTABILITY
The maker belongs
in the market story.
For marginalized weavers, women artisans and small producer groups, the intended benefit is visibility and a clearer route to commercial demand. Profiles would preserve each group’s identity, techniques, location and capacity, with consent and appropriate privacy.
Assisted onboarding through accountable coordinators could help groups with limited digital access. Cluster arrangements would record allocation, quality responsibility and how producer groups are paid. Participation costs and support requirements must be tested so fees do not become a new barrier.
Reduce opaque middlemen.
Direct access to comparable offers aims to reduce dependence on intermediaries who control information or market access without explaining their value. Inspection, logistics and export coordination can remain useful. Their role, fee and responsibility should be explicit.
Intended responsible-sourcing standards oppose child and forced labour and require supplier evidence and independent review. Producer benefit must be measured rather than assumed from transaction growth.
HOW THE MODEL IMPROVES TRANSPARENCY
From an assertion
to an accountable record.
- 01
Separate claims from evidence.
Show who declared a fact, what document supports it, who checked it and when. Keep commercially sensitive and personal information within appropriate access permissions.
- 02
Keep changes visible.
Proposed blockchain records preserve a history of approved events and corrections. They cannot make false input true or establish legal ownership and certification by themselves.
- 03
Help information arrive in time.
Planned AI assistance can compare specifications, flag missing fields, prepare documents and surface delays. People approve offers, verify evidence and decide exceptions.
- 04
Make agreement and settlement distinct.
Record acceptance, shipment, inspection, claims and confirmed receipts separately. A USD 10,000 order with a USD 3,000 confirmed deposit leaves USD 7,000 outstanding before agreed adjustments.
PROPOSED REVENUE MODEL
Earn from access.
Earn from useful services.
The COTO-ACUS presentation sets out five revenue streams. Prices, volume bands, billing rules and launch availability remain to be validated and published.
| Revenue stream | Who would pay and for what | What must be tested |
|---|---|---|
| Volume-linked subscriptions | Business buyers and sellers pay for an agreed access tier and platform services. Trading volume informs tier design. | Willingness to pay, renewal, support cost and affordability for smaller participants. |
| Bidding participation | Participants pay a disclosed fee for eligible bidding activity, where applicable under the subscription terms. | Whether charges support worthwhile enquiries and do not duplicate included services or discourage participation. |
| Recommendations and statistics | Businesses pay for scoped analysis, market information or decision support. | Information quality, consent, confidentiality and demonstrable value to the customer. |
| Market-entry programmes | Manufacturers, exporters or other business clients pay for agreed market-readiness deliverables. | Delivery effort, specialist costs, client outcomes and repeat demand. |
| Consortium branding | Participating producers or exporters pay agreed fees for a shared brand and route-to-market programme. | Member value, governance, identity protection and the programme’s delivery costs. |
Tailored value-chain work requires a separate scope and commercial proposal. Customer fees should disclose what is included, what is optional, applicable third-party charges and when the fee is earned.
Carpet trade value is not COTO revenue. The USD value of goods passing through a future platform belongs in a separate trade-volume measure. COTO revenue would be its own earned subscription and service fees. Payment-provider charges and bank payouts also need separate reconciliation.
EXPLORE YOUR OWN ASSUMPTIONS
Build a model.
Keep assumptions visible.
This annual scenario tool starts blank. Enter your own assumptions to explore the five revenue streams. It is not a COTO forecast, current pricing or a statement of expected investor returns.
Use average paying subscribers across the year and annual subscription revenue per subscriber. Event and programme counts should reflect fees actually earned during the same year. Exclude taxes and pass-through amounts from revenue.
WHAT AN INVESTOR SHOULD LOOK FOR
Validate the trade.
Then widen the network.
The development plan should prove customer value and delivery economics before using scale as evidence of success.
- 01
Design and secure pilot commitments.
Choose focused product categories and trade routes. Confirm buyer requirements, supplier capability, onboarding rules, fee hypotheses and provider arrangements. Define measurable producer benefits.
- 02
Test complete trade workflows.
Evaluate offers against briefs, record agreed specifications and responsibilities, follow delivery and claims, and reconcile invoices with confirmed receipts. Human review remains part of the pilot.
- 03
Test renewals and unit economics.
Measure active and renewing subscribers, qualified enquiries, offer-to-agreement conversion, support and verification costs, service margin and repeat demand. Track payment delays, claims and producer-group participation alongside growth.
- 04
Expand only when outcomes support it.
Broaden categories and routes after evidence supports dependable trade, supported payments, viable customer acquisition and effective inclusion safeguards.
CURRENT POSITION & EXECUTION QUESTIONS
A proposition to test.
A clear view of the work ahead.
Available on this website
Trade-profile preparation, a local USD order planner, explanatory process guides and the offering film. These tools do not create live accounts, orders or payments.
Still to build and validate
The invited account and records pilot is configured. Wider supplier-review operations, commercial marketplace discovery/bidding, public-chain anchoring, production integrations, supported payment routes and dispute handling still require development and validation. Crypto remains a planned option requiring an approved provider and eligible routes. Contracts and balances remain in USD.
Key execution risks
Buyer and seller adoption, inaccurate or outdated data, digital exclusion, collusion or manipulated bidding, disputes and confidentiality. The cost of assisted onboarding and verification coordination could outweigh fee income unless tested carefully.
Questions for investment discussions
Which pilots are committed? Who delivers reviews and support? What are acquisition, renewal and service-delivery costs? What entity, governance, funding needs and financing terms would apply? No committed pilots, current revenue, verified customer count or fundraising terms are represented on this page.
Potential development priorities include the core workflow, pilot operations, assisted participation, evidence checks and approved provider integration. Any capital allocation would require an agreed budget and milestones.
START AN INVESTOR CONVERSATION
Help build a market
that works for more people.
Discuss the model, validation plan and evidence needed for the next stage. Any investment proposal would follow separate diligence and formal documents.
Contact COTO about investment ↗Download the film transcript ↗FINANCIALS & GOVERNANCE
Review the evidence.
Meet the leadership.
No audited accounts or actual revenue figures are published. The scenario calculator uses your assumptions, not COTO results.
Financial information ↗ Board & team ↗PRODUCTIVITY, QUALITY & LEARNING / PROPOSED OPERATING MODEL
A measurable path from market access to learning.
The proposed productivity model connects comparable output, quality, producer outcomes and feedback adoption. It separates research evidence from COTO results, and proposed subscription or assessment services from demonstrated revenue.
Read the productivity-mapping model (PDF, 6 pages) ↗
Download the blank observation template ↓
Proposed design, not an activated service or populated sector map. Research on Egyptian rug producers informs the measurement approach; it is not evidence of COTO outcomes. Source: Atkin, Khandelwal and Osman (2017) ↗.