TradeIX, a blockchain-powered trade platform, announced on Thursday it secured $16 million through its Series A investment round, which was led by ING Ventures with participation from investor Kistefos, BNP Paribas, and Tech Mahindra. Founded in 2016, TradeIX is on a mission to rewiring trade finance by providing the most connected and secure platform infrastructure for corporates, banks, asset managers, B2B networks and value-added service providers.
“TradeIX is disrupting the market with the world’s first open platform for trade finance leveraging blockchain technology. The platform is powered by APIs (Application programming interfaces) connects with existing trade platforms and applications to enable trade business to become transparent, faster, and more efficient. TradeIX’s solution is decentralised allowing each client to add it to their existing platforms and applications to improve their connectivity to the wider trade ecosystem.”
While sharing details about the investment, TradeIX, CEO and Founder Rob Barnes, stated:
“This round is a significant stepping stone for us. We are very excited to bring in ING Ventures, BNP Paribas, Tech Mahindra as new investors, and to continue our partnership with Kistefos. After having proven our technology with DHL and multiple banks, the investment will help us to further develop our open platform.”
Mark Buitenhek, Head of Transaction Services of ING, also commented:
“TradeIX offers a great solution for trade finance that truly enables clients to become more efficient and transparent. TradeIX operates via an open platform and ‘open’ is what ING thinks the future of financial services is going to be. On top of that, we see a lot of opportunity in distributed ledger technology, so we’re happy to announce we are now intensifying our cooperation with TradeIX.”
Benoit Legrand, Chief Innovation Officer of ING and CEO of ING Ventures, added:
“ING Ventures is constantly looking for fintechs that help us to deliver a differentiating experience for our clients. TradeIX has definitely proven that that is exactly what they are doing. Extending our existing partnership into an investment helps to bring this solution to even more clients in the near future, empowering them to stay ahead in their business.”