Factors such as rising interest rates, higher inflation, and a dampened global macroeconomic outlook have made working capital a topic of discussion, leading to strong demand for trade finance solutions. Banks and financial institutions are struggling to meet the huge demand from a wide range of corporates, especially given the increasing complexity of shifting supply chains and corporate business needs.
This is where partnerships with fintechs such as Finverity come in handy. The global digital transformation in trade finance places Finverity in a sweet spot to meet burgeoning demand. The London-based fintech startup makes it faster and easier to access working capital by providing a digital ecosystem for trade and supply chain finance.
$5M oversubscribed round
Now, Finverity has raised $5 million in an oversubscribed equity round from London fintech-specialist VC firm Outward that backed Mazepay, Januar and Peppy, Amsterdam-based Acrobator Ventures and US-based s16vc. The round also saw participation from follow-on investors, including MENA-based B&Y Venture Partners and a range of UHNWIs.
The funding round comes on the back of 15x revenue growth in 2022 across the Middle East and Africa and the recent expansion to Eastern Europe. With the latest funding round, the total investment secured by Finverity accounts for $15 million.
The fintech will use the funds to increase the headcount from the current 40 to 60 employees, meet the rapidly increasing demand for its solutions, and complete office openings in Dubai, Poland and Kenya. Furthermore, Finverity’s technology is expanding to cover almost the entire range of funded trade finance and working capital products.
Alex Fenechiu, COO & co-founder of Finverity, commented: “We have created a wizard which allows financial institutions to launch new products in the working capital space in 4 weeks instead of 12 months. We have also helped banks and NBFIs increase utilisation from existing clients and reduce losses due to fraud and default. Our time is now and with our new partners, I’m confident that Finverity will be a leading driver of SCF & working capital innovation across emerging markets”.
Viacheslav (Slava) Oganezov, CEO & co-founder of Finverity, commented: “When we started this fundraise the market was just starting to go through a rough spot, so there was a lot of talk about negative sentiment. However, what we found is that there is a significant amount of venture capital out there. Funds have been raised and need to be deployed, investors are just more selective.”
Andi Kazeroonian, Investment Manager at Outward VC, commented: “Prohibitively high set-up costs, immediate and complex integration requirements and insufficient AML/KYC capabilities of existing platforms all act as contributors to manual and paper-based processes remaining the market norm. Finverity team’s deep understanding of these acute pain points has enabled the creation of a solution that is truly fit for purpose.”
Joachim Lacquer, General Partner & Co-founder at Acrobator Ventures, commented: “From the first call, it was clear that we were dealing with something special, both in terms of the magnitude of the problem Finverity is trying to solve and the characters of the founders, Slava and Alex. These founders possess a rare combination of grit, vision, humility and empowerment. The team members, advisors and investors who have joined them in their quest to create a more even playing field for SMEs in developing markets are a testament to that. It’s very rewarding to play a small part in this big-impact story.”
Oleg Bibergan, Managing Partner, s16vc founders fund, commented: “We are in the early days of SCF tech enablement, and it’s exciting to think about the scale of challenges and opportunities in this space. As a founders’ fund, we love partnering with ambitious founders looking to solve massive challenges and we are excited to be working with Finverity as they turn their vision into reality.”
Easy, fast access to supply chain finance
Finverity was founded in 2017 by Viacheslav Oganezov and Alex Fenechiu, two young entrepreneurs who met at Bayes Business School in London. They identified a significant gap between the quality of financial services offered to corporates in the UK versus Emerging Markets, especially in the area of supply chain finance.
In over five years, Finverity has built the world’s first truly digital ecosystem for trade and supply chain finance in pursuit of achieving its mission of bridging the $1.7 trillion global trade finance gap by channelling capital to where it’s most needed.
In an interaction with TFN, Finverity founders said that they truly value diversity, and their team reflects that reality with executives and staff from all continents. Its top executives belong to Romania, Russia, Australia, Nigeria, Kenya, Ukraine, UK, and Poland.
Finverity has a dual offering, a Funding Platform, which brings together corporates seeking working capital and funders looking to deploy capital into quality mid-market assets on a single platform. The platform provides a whole suite of services and technology to enable trade and supply chain finance deals to be executed seamlessly and at scale. The second offering is a SaaS solution, which 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.
