8 Fast Growing Supply Chain Fintech Companies from Europe

Innovative technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), analytics and distributed ledger technology (DLT) are changing the way companies and their suppliers do business. These technologies are revolutionizing the supply chain industry by introducing digital solutions that improve processes, increase efficiency and increase transparency.

In Europe, a number of technology startups have emerged over the past couple of years to solve the financing problems of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), contribute to the digitization of industry and support the growth of the real economy.

To get a feel for the region’s rapidly evolving supply chain fintech industry, we’ve curated a selection of Europe’s most innovative and fastest-growing startups disrupting the space. These eight companies leverage technology to bring transparency to global trade, offer short-term financing solutions and facilitate business-to-business (B2B) trade. They have made remarkable progress in the past year and are poised for further growth going forward.

Marco Polo

Founded in 2017 and based in London, Marco Polo is a trade finance initiative led by TradeIX and R3.

The platform, which uses distributed ledger technology (DLT), aims to improve the trading ecosystem and its participants by providing secure, distributed data storage and bookkeeping, automated contract enforcement, identity management, asset verification and tracking. It is designed to be a truly open network that allows interoperability of applications and legacy systems of banks and businesses involved in international trade transactions.

Companies that are part of the Marco Polo network include Bank of America, BNY Mellon, BNP Paribas, Accenture, Google, IBM and Microsoft. According to Dealroom data, Marco Polo has secured $16 million in funding so far.

Come on

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Geneva, Komgo is a blockchain software development and technology services company solving problems for the trade finance industry. The company builds digital solutions designed to transform internal workflows and the relationship between importers, exporters, banks and all industry stakeholders.

Komgo is owned by the industry’s leading banks and companies, including ABN-AMRO, Credit Agricole, Citi, Gunvor, ING and Societe Generale. It has offices in Seoul, Singapore, Geneva, London, New York and Houston.

Earlier this month, Komgo acquired GlobalTrade Corporation (GTC), a Canadian multi-bank provider of trade finance solutions. Together, Komgo and GTC deliver digitization solutions for trade finance to over 120 multinational customers and their 11,000+ subsidiaries.

According to Dealroom data, Komgo has secured $29 million in funding so far.

FQX

Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Zurich, FQX is a blockchain startup. FQX’s primary offering is the eNote, an unconditional promise to pay a specified sum to another party at a specified future date.

eNote is based on blockchain technology, can be structured modularly to suit any financing purpose, and can be easily transferred to any third party. Companies can sell their eNotes in a practice similar to invoice factoring to get cash before settlement dates to improve cash flow. eNotes can also be used by companies to obtain short-term financing from banks or other companies.

eNotes are issued and traded in real-time on a blockchain-based infrastructure, enabling improved liquidity and risk protection for both trading partners.

FQX entered into an agreement with Switzerland’s SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) in February 2022 to use the startup’s blockchain-based short-term debt instruments on SDX. FQX secured US$4.7 million in seed funding led by SIX Fintech Ventures, the non-strategic corporate venture arm of SIX, and unicorn startup founder Carsten Thoma.

Preview

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in London, Previse is a global finance and technology company specializing in business-to-business (B2B) commerce. The company has built the infrastructure to connect millions of suppliers on existing B2B networks with billions of dollars in funding in ways not otherwise possible. The company’s core capability is to process trade data for enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) globally and use artificial intelligence (AI) to predict future revenues and accurately price risk.

Previse claims it transacts over $24 trillion in trade each year between 20 million SMEs and 5,000 enterprise buyers globally.

In May, Previse closed the first phase of its Series B funding, securing $18 million to expand the availability of its data-driven working capital financing solutions designed for SMEs.

EcoVadis

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Paris, EcoVadis is a provider of business analytics, intelligence and collaborative performance improvement tools for global supply chains.

EcoVadis’ easy-to-use and actionable sustainability scorecards and carbon action tools provide detailed insights into environmental, social and ethical risks across 200+ purchase categories and 175+ countries, enabling businesses of all sizes to monitor and improve the sustainability performance of their business. and trading partners.

Industry leaders such as Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oréal, Unilever, LVMH, Salesforce, Bridgestone, BASF and JPMorgan are among the 100,000 businesses that collaborate with EcoVadis.

EcoVadis is one of the most well-funded climate fintech startups in Europe, having secured a total of USD 725 million in funding. In June, it closed a US$500 million Series C, which was expanded in November with an undisclosed secondary transaction. The startup said it would use the proceeds to continue its investments in internal and acquired innovation, expand its global scale-up and deepen the user engagement and impact of its solutions. EcoVadis is part of the unicorn club.

Traxpay

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Frankfurt, Traxpay is a rapidly growing supply chain finance platform operating globally from Europe with a multi-bank approach. Traxpay aims to become the “360° supply chain finance platform” for buyers, suppliers and banks, enabling companies to manage their working capital in a simple, secure and sustainable way.

Traxpay offers all stakeholders a set of tools to generate and secure liquidity along the entire value chain. Established financial institutions including Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank, Nord/LB, LBBW and KfW IPEXBank use Traxpay’s financing solution and maintain strategic partnerships with the company.

Traxpay has secured a total of $18 million in funding so far, according to Dealroom data. Backers include Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and Earlybird Venture Capital.

Finesse

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in London, Finverity operates an award-winning supply chain finance technology platform that addresses the entire ecosystem of trade finance participants.

Finverity’s platform is made available via three routes: a digital marketplace that directly matches bank and non-bank financiers with pre-qualified mid-market companies seeking supply chain and receivables financing; a highly customizable, white-label software for banks and non-bank financiers looking to grow their supply chain and receivables financing operations; and a service offering that enables funders to onboard, deploy and manage their own transactions and co-fund new transactions using Finverity’s open platform.

Finverity in February 2022 secured a US$2 million Pre-Series A equity funding round, which the company said it would use to expand its sales, operations and technology teams to support its rapid growth. The company also plans to open three new offices across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Europe.

Centrifuges

Headquartered in Zug and founded in 2017, Centrifuge is an open, decentralized operating system that aims to connect the global financial supply chain. The system allows participants to trade on a global network while maintaining ownership of their data, including their validated company details, their reputation, business relationships and subsequent transactions.

The decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol seeks to make credit more accessible to small businesses by allowing them to borrow money against real assets (RWA), while providing stable returns for investors by opening pooled liquidity to the world of traditional finance. . Centrifuge’s associated decentralized application (DApp), Tinlake, is a marketplace for tokenized RWAs.

Centrifuge has already funded over USD 134 million in RWAs as funding of over USD 4.5 million in trade receivables to Harbor Trade. In November, the startup closed a $4 million funding round, bringing the total amount raised to $15.8 million, according to Dealroom data.

Featured Image Credit: Edited from Freepik