Yesterday Factorin, the leading Russian trade finance blockchain, said that 51% of the company was sold for 867 million rubles ($12 million), of which 350 million rubles ($4.75 million) was invested in the company. The investors are Russia’s largest mobile phone company MTS and existing investor Digital Horizon.
Factorin’s blockchain solution hosts more than 40 banks and factoring firms as well as more than a thousand buyers and sellers. MTS is one of its clients, as are retail chain stores Dixy and Magnit.
Since the launch of the solution in 2019, it has processed 225 billion rubles ($3 billion) for 1.6 million deliveries. Its Ethereum-based private network has 59 nodes. The solution offers multiple trade finance tools, including factoring and dynamic discounting.
“Financial solutions built on blockchain technology are the infrastructure of the future for transactions. In the coming years, not only trade finance, but also settlements and payments in general, will “go” along these rails. Factorin is one of the few companies that is bringing this future closer,” said Alan Vaksman, Managing Partner of Digital Horizon.
The startup may have benefited from COVID-19. Last May, CEO Andrei Maklin noted that COVID-19 was causing later payments, but trade finance solutions meant that suppliers don’t have to wait.
Meanwhile, there are numerous blockchain trade finance solutions, some domestic such as the Indian Banks’ Blockchain Infrastructure Co (IBBIC). But many are cross border. In Singapore, there are dltledgers and Triterras. There is a bank-backed letter of credit platform Contour in Asia, and in Europe, there are multiple bank-backed platforms, we.trade, komgo and Marco Polo.