Financial trading platform TradeIX announced an investment of USD 16 million on Thursday, led by ING Ventures, the venture capital arm of ING Bank. The Series A investment was also backed by Kistefos, BNP Paribas and Tech Mahindra.
TradeIX is an open platform for trade finance and uses blockchain technology. The platform is powered by application programming interfaces (APIs). These connect with existing trade platforms and applications, to enable businesses to become more transparent and efficient. Its decentralized application aims to help clients connect more easily with the wider trade ecosystem.
TradeIX has already partnered with banks, corporates and ERP providers. Working with blockchain software firm R3, they are running the Marco Polo initiative. This involves implementing blockchain technology into trade transactions made by international banks. TradeIX also recently launched the world’s first blockchain-enabled trade finance transaction for global logistics company DHL.
Mark Buitenhek, Head of Transaction Services at ING, said in a statement: “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.”
Jacques Levet, Head of Transaction Banking EMEA at BNP Paribas, said that they are looking forward to working with the TradeIX team to deliver new innovations. She said this will ‘fundamentally’ change how banks offer and manage trade finance solutions for corporate clients.
Norwegian investment company Kistefos has previously invested in TradeIX and increased its stake in the company as part of the new transaction. Kistefos invests in Norweigan and foreign companies within sectors including shipping, financial services and telecommunications.
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