We're excited to announce that we've secured an additional $6 million USD in seed funding, extending our initial $11 million seed round announced in January of this year to $17 million. New investors Eminence Ventures and QED Investors have participated in the extended round – which also includes participation from existing investors Team8 and ZIM.

We've also expanded our partnership with leading global container liner shipping company ZIM, providing ZIM’s global customer base an embedded and flexible digital financing solution to ease the burden of freight and inventory expenses at checkout, including through its digital freight forwarding subsidiary Ship4wd. Following a phased rollout across the US, Canada and the UK, ZIM recently announced that it will be offering the 40Seas solution to its customers in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Australia.

Eyal Moldovan, Co-founder and CEO, 40Seas: Less than six months after our initial seed round, our existing investors Team8 and ZIM have doubled down on their financial backing. We’ve achieved this at a pronounced increase in valuation, which is a huge sign of confidence in our unique value proposition, especially given the current market conditions. We’ve also secured funding from two renowned investment groups in QED via their seed fund and Eminence Ventures, which will help tremendously with our US and Asian expansion. This round extension will provide us with a significant financial runway to execute a robust growth strategy in 2023 and beyond.

At 40Seas we leverage global innovation at the intersection of B2B commerce and fintech to deliver a cost-effective, user-friendly digital financing framework for SMEs involved in cross-border trade. Available as an API or stand-alone platform, our solution enables ecosystem players to bridge the working capital gap between exporters who require advance payment and importers who wish to pay for goods only after they've been sold. 40Seas can be seamlessly embedded into check out portals, facilitating easy and streamlined access to finance at the most convenient point of the customer journey. By digitizing order flows and payment processes, which in many cases still happen offline, the platform drives transactional efficiencies and makes it easier to conduct business.

Our AI-powered underwriting capabilities extract rich, actionable insights relating to both importers and exporters, which can be used to provide much more holistic and tailored financing solutions. With greater visibility over importer and exporter transaction history, we can scalably verify creditworthiness, assess risk and process financing much more efficiently than traditional banks – which generally lack oversight of companies that operate outside their jurisdiction. 

Eli Glickman, President and CEO, ZIM: We’re delighted to extend our investment in 40Seas, a platform that has experienced spectacular early-stage growth. At ZIM, we are very much aligned with the 40Seas mission to help SMEs overcome payment-related barriers to cross-border trade. Thanks to 40Seas’ flexible digital financing solution, our customers can now defer payment for freight charges for up to 90 days from the invoice date, giving them invaluable flexibility. We’re excited to build on this very promising partnership in the months ahead.

Rakefet Russak-Aminoach, Managing Partner, Team8: 40Seas is on a mission to provide digital access to financing for small and medium sized-enterprises (SMEs). This aligns with the overarching goal of Team8’s fintech foundry to accelerate the development of innovative, vertical-specific fintech solutions designed to address long standing industry pain points. Given the scarcity of viable choices for SMEs on a global scale, the 40Seas platform  will play a pivotal role in moving the industry forward, making financial services more efficient and accessible to businesses engaged in global trade.

Peter Cheng, Founding Managing Partner, Eminence Ventures: SMEs need swift access to financing in order to make sound decisions around pricing and inventory management. Antiquated payment technology and trade financing offerings have made life unnecessarily difficult for importers and exporters, while exacerbating global supply chain fragmentation. 40Seas will help SMEs get faster and easier access to financing.

Camila Key Saruhashim, Principal at QED: Global trade is a huge market with $32 trillion in volume of goods moved across the world every year, but access to capital is highly constrained for small and medium importers and exporters. The industry suffers from a $1.7 trillion trade finance gap in the world, and 40Seas is working to bridge that gap for some of the largest trade corridors through a powerful embedded trade financing platform.