GTR Ventures announces investment in Africa-focused deals platform Orbitt

International investment platform GTR Ventures has announced an undisclosed investment in Africa-focused digital deal-sourcing platform Orbitt.

In a statement on its website on Tuesday (30 October), GTR Ventures — which has offices in Singapore, London and Hong Kong — said the deal with the London-based startup marks its “first Africa-focused investment”.

As part of the deal, the venture builder said it will work with Orbitt to strengthen the deal-sourcing platform’s trade finance capabilities. It will also help Orbitt to grow its relationships with traditional and digital trade finance players.

Orbitt claims it has facilitated over $100-million of equity, debt and trade finance transactions to date

Commenting in the same statement, Lanre Oloniniyi (pictured above, middle) — who co-founded Orbitt in 2016 with William Hunnam — said GTR Ventures’ network will be crucial to helping the platform attract major banks and funds across Asia, Europe and the Middle-East, to increase trade finance lending and investment into Africa.

Orbitt connects investors with trade and investment opportunities through its smart-matching technology.

The company claims it has facilitated over $100-million of equity, debt and trade finance transactions since launch and is working on digitising the African investment ecosystem.

We’re thrilled to announce that @GTRVentures has made an investment in Orbitt. The partnership will help strengthen our trade finance capabilities from a product and innovation perspective while leveraging @gtreview’s tremendous Africa footprinthttps://t.co/PfTEgzO1at

— Orbitt (@OrbittCapital) October 30, 2018

GTR Ventures co-founder and managing director Peter Gubbins said although Africa has a trade finance gap of over $100-billion, his firm had seen an “increasing amount” of institutional and impact capital keen on doing more with the continent.

“Leveraging GTR’s tremendous African footprint in Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia and South Africa, we see Orbitt working alongside our partner banks and funds to bridge this gap,” he added.

Featured image: Orbitt co-founder Lanre Oloniniyi (middle) flanked by GTR Ventures CEO Rupert Sayer (left) and GTR Ventures chief investment officer Kelvin Tan (right) (Orbitt via Twitter)