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Lagos-based digital trade-finance platform, FrontEdge has raised $10 million in a seed round of debt and equity funding led by TLG Capital, and other investors including digital freight forwarder Flexportsuch.
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The investment in FrontEdge will allow the Nigerian fintech to further empower SME exporters and importers across Africa and significantly push up their potentil to be globally competitive.
It’s a volume game – Moni Alli
Founded in 2021 by Moni Alli, the startup supports SME exporters and importers with funds and software tools enabling them to do cross-border and international transactions.
Moni Alli
“It’s a volume game, and we’re trying to essentially do as many trades as you can, given how tight margins are. And so what you see in Europe and other jurisdictions is like these traders are given this financial support, which means that they can give longer payment terms to their buyers offshore and be more competitive,” said Alli who is also the CEO at FrontEdge.
Alli said the startup was set up to address the challenges SMEs face in the export and import business. FrontEdge has been able to increasingly address these challenges by allowing SMEs access trade-finance and leverage the its platform.
The FrontEdge platform allows SMEs to seamlessly manage their financing, logistics, insurance, foreign exchange, and cross-border payments.
The impact has been tremendous on SMEs as they have eliminated hurdles including the requirements for collaterals, as would be the case with traditional banks, and upfront cash based on transaction-based underwriting, among other challenges.
