Patrik Zekkar has stepped down from technology firm Enigio to co-found a new venture with Spyridon Kogkas that aims to bridge the gap between real-world trade and digital assets.
Zekkar is taking on the role of partner at EGM Foundry, as well as board member and chief trade infrastructure officer at its sister company, agricultural commodity trading house EG Merchants.
EGM Foundry is described as “a physical trade, finance and digital asset infrastructure orchestration company” that turns physical trade into “tokenisation-ready programmes” aimed at stablecoin issuers, real-world asset platforms, financiers and trade operators.
It is integrated with EG Merchants, which will give EGM Foundry “direct access to agricultural supply chains, cargo and document control, and counterparty intelligence”, Zekkar said in a LinkedIn post.
The aim is to provide financiers with “a structural advantage … for controlled domain entry or a digital transformation”.
“We learnt quite quickly that there is an appetite from the digital economy to enter the traditional economy – to move out of speculative investment and go into real-world assets,” Zekkar told GTR.
EGM Foundry will orchestrate the whole process: the physical trade, the liquidity origination and digitalisation.
“The concept we built was to combine physical trading with credit structuring skill, and put digitalisation on top of that to support both cost efficiency and risk management,” he said.
“Since we control the shipments and make sure we have control and title over the goods throughout the trade cycle, we have to stay longer with every trade.”
This means that, should anything go wrong with the physical goods, financiers gain real-time visibility of the decision-making process, he said.
The firm has already signed contracts with on-chain financiers, asset managers and family offices, Zekkar noted.
Headquartered in London, EGM Foundry has a presence in Stockholm and Athens, and is in the process of setting up a presence in USA.
Through EG Merchant entities, it is present and able to trade in the Americas, Europe, the UK and, shortly, Hong Kong.
“If trade finance is going to bridge the gap we’ve been shouting about for ages, let’s link arms and do it as one solid delivery,” he added.
In his role at EG Merchants, Zekkar is responsible for trade finance, supply chain infrastructure, tokenisation, digital assets, AI, blockchain innovation and cross-border logistics.
His focus will be on modernising trade ecosystems, improving market connectivity and delivering solutions that drive “efficiency, resilience and growth opportunities across emerging markets”.
Zekkar spent more than four years at Enigio, where he joined as chief executive in 2021, before stepping down from that role late last year.
Petter Nylander replaced Zekkar in the role in December 2025, with Zekkar continuing to lead its business in trade finance and transport and logistics.
