Incomlend, a Singapore-based invoice finance platform, has launched a new platform to provide trade finance services to clients of shipping and logistics group CMA CGM.

The platform, called Shipfin Trade Finance, will make available factoring and supply chain finance to exporters and importers across CMA CGM’s network spanning 160 countries. Through Shipfin, the shipping group’s clients will be able to digitally register and undergo an automated due diligence process, trade through finance applications, monitor finance activity through dynamic dashboards and manage their cash online. According to Incomlend, the platform will also ensure funding flexibility for CMA CGM’s clients through Incomlend’s marketplace funding model and global funding pool capabilities.

“Through this partnership, a world shipping giant and a fintech platform join forces to better serve the cash flow needs of cross-border trading companies. This deal is a great fit as CMA CGM can perfectly identify cash flow needs among their shipping clients, while Incomlend is ideally geared to globally provide funding and process international transactions. This partnership will further increase financial inclusion for trading SMEs on a global level,” says Dimitri Kouchnirenko, director and co-founder of Incomlend.

Incomlend was founded in 2016 and has processed over 2,000 trade deals to date. It currently has a presence in around 50 countries globally.

Managing the flows of 207 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of ocean containers each year, the container shipping industry has recently made a series of forays into moving further along the chain to provide finance for importers and exporters. Danish conglomerate Maersk has been one of the most active in the space, investing earlier this year in a technology platform that provides digital import and export finance solutions for SMEs. It has also linked up with tech giant IBM on TradeLens, an industry-wide supply chain solution using blockchain technology, of which CMA CGM is also a member.

Speaking on the launch of Shipfin, Mathieu Friedberg, senior vice-president, commercial agencies network at CMA CGM, says: “By launching Shipfin Trade Finance, the CMA CGM group goes even further in customer relations. We offer innovative, simple and pertinent solutions in support of our clients’ international development.”