Modifi raises $15m, inks MoU with Japan’s SMBC to support SMEs with cross-border financing solutions
SME-focused digital trade finance platform Modifi has secured $15 million in fresh funding alongside a new partnership with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), one of the largest financial institutions in Japan.
Trade finance platform Modifi raises $15m
SMBC led the round with its Asia Rising Fund (co-funded with Incubate Fund) and was joined by Maersk, Heliad Equity Partners, and Intesa Sanpaolo’s venture capital arm Neva SGR, among others.
Modifi, based in Berlin, Germany, will leverage the equity to expand into the “high-growth markets” of China and India, where it claims to have already made “significant inroads”, as evidenced through its 2022 acquisition of Seawise Capital’s trade finance and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business.
In addition to the funding, the company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with its lead investor SMBC to “jointly advance digital solutions that support SME exporters across Asia in expanding their international trade operations”.
The partnership will make Modifi’s buy now, pay later (BNPL) solutions and integrated risk management tools available to SMBC’s corporate export clients to “optimise cash flow and expand their international reach”.
Modifi says the two firms are aiming to further support SMEs with cross-border financing solutions through “a series of joint initiatives”.
Founded in 2018, the platform claims to have facilitated over $3 billion in global trade for more than 1,800 companies in over 55 countries worldwide.
Modifi previously raised €20 million in a 2021 Series B led by Heliad Equity Partners at a company valuation of €100 million, before later securing a $145 million debt financing facility with Silicon Valley Bank and Solarisbank later the same year.
