Trade finance startup Drip Capital said on Thursday that it has raised $113 million in its latest round of funding with a mix of debt and equity. $90 million was secured in debt financing led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and California-headquartered East West Bank while the remaining $23 million was in equity from Japanese institutional investors GMO Payment Gateway and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC).
Pushkar Mukewar, Co-founder and CEO of Drip Capital told FE Aspire the funds will be used to launch new products on the finance front and to expand trade facilitation products.
Drip Capital, which offers collateral-free post-shipment finance to exporters and importers, has expanded its services for SMEs by integrating forex and risk analytics solutions with its core trade financing products.
The company claimed its revenue has quadrupled and customer base doubled in the past two years. Mukewar said it achieved cash profitability during the 2022 and 2023 period when the global trade sector faced significant challenges, including rising interest rates that squeezed margins and restricted capital access for SMBs.
“We have so far financed over 1.99 lakh invoices involving $6.5 billion while revenue has grown over 2x from last year. We currently have more than 2,700 customers,” Mukewar said.
The company has so far raised around $640 million in equity and debt funding from investors including Accel, Wing, Transpose Platform, Peak XV Partners, Barclays, and more.
“Drip’s innovative and comprehensive solutions in digital trade finance are transforming how SMBs engage in trade. We believe Drip’s technology and proprietary underwriting are uniquely positioned to address the challenges in this space,” Ryu Muramatsu, Executive Vice President, GMO Payment Gateway said in a statement.
Japan’s GMO Payment Gateway provides online payment services, including in-person payment solutions, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), embedded finance, and Banking as a Service (BaaS).
Drip Capital had last raised $175 million in October 2021 including $135 million in warehouse debt facilities.
According to research firm Mordor Intelligence, the global trade finance market size is estimated at $65.69 billion in 2024, and is likely to reach $80.85 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 4.24 per cent.