About Hops 360

Hops 360, Inc. is a Delaware corporation with offices in Chicago and Zurich. The company was founded in 2017 by long-time hop hand Charles Matt, and his colleague Matthias Lampe, a Computer Science Engineer with extensive experience in supply-chain technologies and cloud-based systems.

Charles Matt Partner, Co-founder CEO 20+ years experience in hops Former Global Director for hops, SABMiller Past President, Hop Research Council Former General Manager, Watertown Hops Co. Early career with John I. Haas Experience on both sides of the hop trade and all points in supply chain From a brewing family...Son of F.X. Matt, Saranac

Dr. sc. ETH. Matthias Lampe Partner, Co-founder CTO 15 years experience in IT Engineering Focus on SupplyChain Innovation Experience with advanced technologies in the auto identification and cloud-based systems PhD in Computer Science from ETH Zurich

The inspiration for Hops 360 grew from Charlie’s direct experience buying hops for SABMiller, where he encountered many of the same problems brewers everywhere face in managing hops...knowing how much to buy and when, weighing the risk of under-supply with the high cost of maintaining big inventories, covering unexpected short positions and off-loading long positions when actuals did not meet forecasts...always with a feeling that the market was somehow stacked against him.

Like most brewers, Charlie worked with primitive tools in dimly-lit offices to try to maintain his company’s position. He did this without the benefit of outside resource and with little or no contact with other brewers.

After some years, it occurred to Charlie that perhaps there might be a better way, and he resolved to risk fame and fortune to find it. This led him to an ashram in the jungles of Bali where he found Matthias Lampe deep in meditation. As it happened, Matthias was not thinking about hops at the time, but quickly became intrigued by the idea of applying his experience with supply-chain technologies and cloud-based systems to provide brewers with better tools to manage hops.

The two repaired to a room in Zurich where together they drew up the design for a system that would not only enable brewers to track and monitor their hop positions more easily, but also provide a basis for brewers to improve the liquidity of their hop commitments, and leverage scale and expertise in the market. This system became Hops 360.

Hops 360 is not a marketplace, and we are not a hop supplier. We are independent, and represent brewers only. Our goal is to provide brewers with expertise and tools to facilitate hop management. The core initial service is a hop position tracking and management tool, which enables brewers to manage their hop positions more efficiently, and to communicate their positions more effectively to the market. This service is subscription-based and can be engaged on a “stand alone” basis. Enlisting the service does not restrict the brewer in any way. Brewer subscribers can continue to manage supplier relationships and to buy hops on their own without engaging any additional services. The position management service simply gives the brewer better visibility onto his position, and thus better decision-making capabilities in buying hops and managing his commitments, both spot and forward.