Latin America’s first international trade platform Finkargo, closes $20 million Series A funding to fuel growth for SMBs

Finkargo, the international trade platform empowering small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with global sourcing, trade services and embedded financing, announced a $20 million Series A financing today.

The round was led by QED Investors, with the participation of new investor Nazca and existing investors Quona, Flybridge, Maya, and ONEVC.

Finkargo's remarkable growth story has been fueled by its constant interest in unraveling the intricate layers of international trade. Importers' demand for innovation has led Finkargo to introduce groundbreaking products that seamlessly unite the entire trade ecosystem-importers, freight forwarders, suppliers, and tech trailblazers-into a harmonious symphony of international commerce.

"International trade is so big and complex that tech disruption has only scratched the surface of what's possible," said Finkargo CEO and co-founder Santiago Molina.

"At Finkargo, we started with the elephant in the room, trade financing. As we continue to tackle this behemoth, we've also identified missing pieces across our client's operations that can only be filled through integrated systems. While digital freight forwarders are working hard to optimize the flow of goods, Finkargo is streamlining the flow of money and data.

The new funds will strengthen the company's growth in Mexico to expand the offering beyond trade financing into an integrated suite of trade services, including supplier sourcing, product verifications, cargo insurance, foreign exchange, and international trade data intelligence.

"While the global trade finance market sits at $5.2 trillion, there's still a $1.7 trillion financing gap," said QED Investors Principal Camila Key Saruhashi. "SMBs in Colombia and Mexico import over $30 billion in volume from Asia yearly but struggle to access capital to manage the 60- to 120-day gap it takes from payments to shipment arrival."

"The limited number of banks that have trade finance practices almost exclusively focus on large traders, given the historically manual processes associated with underwriting these types of loans. Finkargo is bridging the gap by leveraging data and technology to offer an essential import financing product for SMBs. This capital will allow Finkargo to continue scaling and expanding to Mexico, a huge market that will keep growing on the tailwinds of nearshoring."

Finkargo's journey, spanning just two short years, has left a mark on international trade. They've empowered over 250 customers to partake in global commerce and extended their financial support to over 2,000 import operations, valued at a striking $200 million. Beyond these numbers, Finkargo's influence resonates globally as it forges connections, bridging importers in Colombia and Mexico with an expansive network of 430 suppliers spanning 40 countries.

"They're flipping the classic vertical SaaS playbook by starting with a compelling, ‘must have' fintech offering - credit for import/export SMBs - and layering in valuable workflow and supply chain management software," said Flybridge General Partner Jeff Bussgang. "We couldn't be more excited about their progress and potential."