Finverity raises $5m to bridge global trade finance gap

London-based digital ecosystem for trade and supply chain finance, Finverity, raised $5 million in an oversubscribed equity funding round from both new and current investors. Its mission is to bridge the $1.7 trillion global trade finance gap by channelling capital to where it’s most needed, and it has seen 15 times more revenue growth in 2022 across the Middle East and Africa.

The recent expansion into Eastern Europe has also contributed to the growth of the platform.

“We’re thrilled to have such a strong group of investors join us on our journey to democratise global trade finance and provide access to capital where it’s needed most,” said Viacheslav Oganezov, CEO and co-founder of Finverity. “This round is a validation of our technology and team’s ability to execute and scale effectively.”

The funding raised from this round will be used to immediately increase the headcount from 40 to 60 employees to meet the rapidly increasing demand for Finverity’s solutions and to open offices in Dubai, Poland, and Kenya. Furthermore, its technology is expanding to cover almost the entire range of funded trade finance and working capital products.

Finverity offers a dual offering:

• Funding platform: brings together corporates seeking working capital and funders looking to deploy capital into quality mid-market assets on a single platform, providing a whole suite of services and technology to enable trade and supply chain finance deals to be executed seamlessly and at scale.
• Software-as-a-Service solution: provides an end-to-end technology system for banks and non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) to completely revolutionise their trade finance and working capital operations, client experience, and risk capabilities.

When asked why supply chain finance (SCF) and Finverity are of interest to investors now, Oganezov explained, “First, from a macro standpoint, the combination of rising interest rates, higher inflation, and a dampened global macro-economic outlook has made working capital a topic of C-suite discussions and is leading to strong demand for trade finance solutions.”

Additionally, Finverity’s zero code customisation gives its offerings a competitive edge, as it provides deal origination, deal structuring, due diligence, and end-to-end processing, managed by a specialist team, allowing funders to focus on evaluating credit risk and significantly speeding up the scalability and speed of deal flow selection and processing.

“In 2022, Finverity originated over $500m of demand from corporate clients for its financing solutions,” said Alex Fenechiu, COO and co-founder of Finverity. “Turning to our SaaS solution, Finverity offers banks and NBFIs an enterprise-level end-to-end system that can be deployed in under 21 days. This is in stark contrast to much longer deployment times in the industry, often exceeding 12 months.”

Third, the combination of favourable macro dynamics and cutting-edge offerings has been driving Finverity’s growth and enabled a range of partnerships with banks and finance providers.

In 2022, Finverity launched partnerships with numerous banks’ trade finance desks, including Investec, National Bank of Fujairah, and FIMBank, focused on helping them scale their asset deployment by funding Finverity-originated transactions and digitalising trade finance operations using Finverity’s technology.

“Our partnerships with banks and finance providers are fundamental to our vision of democratising trade finance globally,” said Oganezov. “By collaborating with the leading players in the industry, we can help to break down barriers to entry and create an inclusive global financial system that works for all.”

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