Polytrade, a web3 protocol focused on global trade, has raised $3.8 million in a seed round led by Alpha Wave, Matrix Partners, Polygon Ventures and CoinSwitch Ventures, the startup exclusively told TechCrunch.
Other investors include Singularity Ventures and GTM Ventures. The firm has previously been backed by Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal and QuickSwap co-founder Sameep Singhania, among others.
The protocol aims to streamline supply chains through real-time data, Piyush Gupta, founder and CEO of Polytrade, said to TechCrunch.
“The biggest challenge in the global supply chain is the lack of transparency,” Gupta said. “The manual processes, the paperwork; you would be surprised if you submit a document in a bank in India, they still ask you to sign the document with an ink-based signature […] it’s a lot of manual labor.”
Its initial modules include a financing arm that brings real-world yields onto web3. The platform aims to provide small and midsize enterprises and large corporations with access to working capital financing and invoices. The platform has had about 2 million invoices to date, Gupta shared.
In 2023, it expects its trade financing book size to touch $50 million, he said. Next year, it’s looking at liquidity of $200 million into its lending protocol, and all trading ecosystem volume should cross $1 billion, he added.
While the platform is open to the retail market, its main focus is on institutional players because they are more long-term oriented, Gupta said. The company also wants to expand in Latin American, U.S. and European markets, Gupta said.
Polytrade plans to continue building “various models to bring the entire trading supply system onto the blockchain,” he added.
“My single focus is to bring every single trade document, trade financial players and trade counterparties on chain, so that everybody can go to one blockchain page and know everything about a particular buyer or supplier.”