BuyHive and 40Seas Team to Offer B2B Financing

B2B sourcing platform BuyHive is working with 40Seas to provide financing to small businesses.

The partnership, announced Tuesday (Feb. 28), will let small- to medium-sized business (SMB) buyers in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. get up to $1 million dollars’ worth of credit for their sourcing from China, Hong Kong, Vietnam and India and pay for them in installments.

“BuyHive’s new financing tool, developed in collaboration with 40Seas, will enable buyers to quickly figure out the credit limits they can get, based on their production volumes and other factors,” the companies said in a news release. “With this tool, buyers can get access to the funding they need to purchase products, without having to worry about cash flow or credit constraints.”

The companies said in the release BuyHive’s financing toll will be especially useful for SMBs that struggle to find traditional financing due to limited capital or credit histories.

As PYMNTS wrote in December, SMBs could also be at a disadvantage when it comes to trade finance as credit markets are dominated by a handful of players, with the share of trade finance requests rejected by SMBs far higher than the rejection rate for multinational corporations.

“This difference can be bridged, at least in part, by data,” PYMNTS wrote. “FinTechs can tap that information to help smooth the way forward for SMBs to get the credit and the cash they need to facilitate trade.”

The news comes nearly two months after 40Seas announced it had raised $111 million to expand its cross-border trade financing platform.

The firm emerged from stealth mode last month with an $11 million seed funding round that is complemented by a $100 million credit facility.

“Given today’s harsh macroeconomic conditions, now more than ever, [SMBs] need easy access to financing to have the best chance of survival,” 40Seas Co-founder and CEO Eyal Moldovan said at the time. “40Seas wants to drive a sea change in how companies access finance, with a unique solution that makes life easier for importers and exporters, serving both directions of a cross-border trade.”

BuyHive launched local operations in markets in the U.S. and U.K. last year in hopes of supporting the sourcing and procurement needs for third-party sellers.

“For the first time ever, small- or mid-sized online retailers and D2C brands serving the U.S. or European markets can execute a global sourcing strategy to match the world’s largest retail chains via the BuyHive platform,” said Minesh Pore, co-founder and CEO of BuyHive, said at the time.

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