Israeli carrier ZIM and venture capital firm Team8 are supporting a compatriot fintech platform for cross-border trade financing, with $111m in funding.
The Tel Aviv-based 40Seas has raised $11m in a seed funding round, led by Team8 with participation from ZIM and an additional $100m revolving credit facility from ZIM with an option to extend it to $200m.
40Seas is looking to deliver a more efficient and cost-effective cross-border financing framework for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in global commerce. Since going live with a soft launch in October 2022, 40Seas said it has already financed transactions for dozens of SMEs and that it is slated to finance tens of millions of dollars in the coming months.
“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,” said Eyal Moldovan, co-founder and CEO of 40Seas.
In addition to funding, ZIM will embed 40Seas into its digital freight forwarding platform Ship4wd which targets the SME market.
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, remarked Eli Glickman, president and CEO of ZIM, adding: “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.”
