Finverity has raised $5 million to expand its trade and supply chain finance technology.
The United Kingdom-based firm will use the new funding to increase its headcount from 40 to 60, meet the demand for its solutions, and finish opening its offices in Dubai, Poland and Kenya. It will also add capabilities for more trade finance and working capital products, Finverity said in a Thursday (March 30) press release.
“The pace at which our industry is evolving is truly impressive,” Finverity Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder Alex Fenechiu said in the release. “Five years ago, supply chain finance (SCF) barely ever made the headlines. It wasn’t even a ‘real’ financial product in many countries. Today, it’s deemed a key requirement to fuel economic growth for the years to come.”
As PYMNTS reported in December 2022, FinTechs are forging new ways of leveraging information and tech to extend credit to businesses and consumers to support their growth and financial health.
In the case of trade finance, the urgency is there. But there’s also a continued emergence of online platforms to match buyers and sellers, automate invoices and tap supply chain financing through digital means.
Finverity’s offerings currently include a funding platform that brings together companies seeking working capital and funders looking to deploy capital, and a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution for banks and non-banking financial institutions, according to the press release.
Its latest funding round comes after a year in which Finverity saw 15X revenue growth across the Middle East and Africa and expanded to Eastern Europe, the release said.
While technology has been powering the growth of the supply chain finance and trade finance industry in developed economies for a decade, some emerging economies have been left behind, Andi Kazeroonian, investment manager at Outward VC, a new investor in Finverity, said in the release.
“Prohibitively high set-up costs, immediate and complex integration requirements and insufficient [anti-money laundering/know your customer (AML/KYC)] capabilities of existing platforms all act as contributors to manual and paper-based processes remaining the market norm,” Kazeroonian said. “Finverity team’s deep understanding of these acute pain points has enabled the creation of a solution that is truly fit for purpose.”