Nigerian trade finance startup FrontEdge, which helps facilitate cross-border trades for African SMEs, has raised $10 million in debt and equity funding.
To embark on its mission, digital trade-finance platform FrontEdge raised $10 million in debt and equity through a funding round led by TLG Capital that included Flexport.
“TLG is proud to support FrontEdge in its mission to help African SMEs prosper, serving as a crucial conduit to provide access to capital for Africa exporters and financial empowerment.
FrontEdge helps African traders to effectively engage in global trade and we believe that the leadership will execute on the vision,” said Johnnie Puxley of TLG Capital.
The opportunity to reshape African finance trade has become apparent. This is especially when you consider the annual value of international trade volumes is close to $1.2 trillion.
More importantly, this untapped market underscores the need for startups that can take advantage.
One of them is FrontEdge, a Lagos-based fintech that has recently raised $10 million in debt and equity seed round.
Nigerian FrontEdge was founded in 2021 by Moni Alli. The amount raised will help to scale operations across Nigeria, Kenya and other African countries.
FrontEdge, a fintech focused on enabling the growth of African cross-border trade. It provides exporters and importers with working capital and software tools to facilitate their cross-border transactions
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How FrontEdge Works
The startup aims to facilitate the growth of African cross-border trade. It helps to provide SME exporters and importers with the capital and expertise to reach scale. More so, it also helps them to be competitive on the international stage.
Likewise, the Company helps to bridge the gap in financing of small and medium Sized enterprises (SMEs).
This is driven by the prevalent challenge that looms in Africa. At the same time, the dynamic landscape of African International trade proves that FrontEdge mission is the way to go.
Unlike banks, FrontEdge also provides upfront capital to these exporters based on transaction-based underwriting without a request for collateral
According to Ali, the startup typically engages when goods are on an actual vessel or, at times, at the warehouse.
Consequently, the average payment terms set between 60-90 days, allows the fintech to fund the working capital gap. This thereby accelerates receivables and allows exporters to engage in more transactions.