Israeli ZIM Integrated Shipping Services and venture group Team8 are supporting 40Seas, a new Fintech Platform designed to modernize cross-border trade financing, and secure funding of $111 million. The 40Seas fintech platform has raised $111 million to deliver a much more efficient and cost-effective financing framework for SMEs involved in global commerce. The company’s $11 million seed funding round, led by Team8 with participation from ZIM Integrated Shipping Services, is complemented by an additional $100 million credit facility for exporters and importers.
The platform emerges from stealth mode with $111m in funding and backing from industry leaders ZIM and Team8, as ZIM says in a statement.
Based in Tel Aviv, with offices in New York City, Toronto and Shenzhen, 40Seas was founded by industry experts with more than 60 years of combined experience in cross-border payments, logistics, and trade financing.
The fintech startup, built in conjunction with Team8’s Fintech Foundry, has emerged from stealth mode with a view to closing the $1.7 trillion global trade finance gap, providing a solution that enables digital B2B payment functionality while facilitating cross-border trade between small to medium-sized enterprise (SMEs).
As ZIM says, since going live with a soft launch in October 2022, 40Seas has already financed transactions for dozens of SMEs, and is slated to finance tens of millions of dollars in the coming months.
As part of their cooperation, ZIM has extended 40Seas a three-year, account receivables based, senior secured, revolving credit facility of approximately $100 million, with an option to extend it to $200 million. ZIM will embed 40Seas into the freight forwarding services offered by Ship4wd, its award-winning digital freight forwarding subsidiary, targeting the SME market.
Eyal Moldovan, 40Seas Co-founder and CEO, said: “Given today’s harsh macroeconomic conditions, now more than ever, SMEs need easy access to financing to have the best chance of survival. 40Seas wants to drive a sea change in how companies access finance, with a unique solution that makes life easier for importers and exporters, serving both directions of a cross-border trade.”
Eli Glickman, President and CEO of ZIM, said: “With our significant investment in 40Seas, we continue to advance disruptive technologies to promote digital innovation in the shipping industry, while developing additional streams of revenue that complement our core shipping business. We are thrilled to partner with Team8, one of Israel’s leading and most innovative venture groups, on this ground-breaking initiative, which we will also soon offer to our customers worldwide, initially via our digital freight forwarder, Ship4wd. Importantly, with this strategic cooperation, 40Seas will be able to leverage ZIM’s in-depth knowledge of cross-border trade and our close relationship with the market and global SME customers to bring this advanced, much-needed digital financing solution to the market.”
Source: ZIM
