London-based Finverity has raised US$2mn in an equity funding round to help fuel the trade finance marketplace’s growth.

Finverity, which focuses on supply chain finance for mid-market companies in emerging markets, won backing from Abu Dhabi-based BY Venture Partners and existing Canadian investor Loyal VC.

An emerging market family office and “a number of strategic angel investors” also participated, the company says in a statement.

The platform matches bank and non-bank funders with corporates looking for supply chain and receivables finance, along with white-label software and a relationship and transaction management tool.

Finverity says it will use the investment, secured in a pre-Series A funding round, to expand its headcount as the company grows.

Its current client base is spread across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), Eastern Europe and former Soviet states, as well as European companies that trade with emerging markets, chief executive and co-founder Viacheslav Oganezov tells GTR.

“In 2021, the number of live deals, corporate clients, funders onboarded and software-as-a-service licences sold all experienced triple digit percentage growth,” Oganezov says. The company plans to open three new offices in Mena and Eastern Europe during 2022.

Finverity believes the estimated US$1.7tn trade finance gap presents a significant opportunity that can be partly bridged using supply chain finance in emerging markets where smaller companies have typically struggled most to access financing.

It also targets small and medium-sized banks that may be seeking more diverse funding opportunities.

“The financing needs of emerging market mid-market corporates have been significantly under-served for far too long,” says Ghaith Yafi, managing partner of Mena-focused BY Venture Partners. “We see this every day among many Mena-based corporates. Finverity’s platform is already showing strong scalability in meeting this demand in the Mena region and beyond.”

In July last year Finverity appointed former Barclays veteran Alex Collingwood to the newly created role of head of corporate sales and origination, with the task of expanding the company’s client base.