US-based Marco Financial Partners, a trade finance fintech firm targeting SMEs in the Americas, is teaming up with logistics giant DP World to become a lender on its Cargoes Finance platform. Marco, who provides working capital facilities to SMEs in the US and Latin America, says the partnership will allow users of Cargoes Finance to access the financing they require to grow and ultimately help close the growing US$1.7tn global trade finance gap. The Miami-headquartered fintech provides factoring, asset-based lending, purchase order finance and supply chain finance, using artificial intelligence and document recognition technology to speed up SME access to working capital. It was founded in 2019 and is backed by a US$7mn equity seed round led by Arcadia Funds LLC and Kayyak Ventures.
DP World, which operates 90 terminals including a dozen in Central and South America, launched Cargoes Finance, offering a range of pre- and post-shipment financing products, as well as extended payment terms. It also gives financing options for logistics processes, receivables and payables financing, and invoice discounting, while users can boost working capital by using inventory as collateral. Marco estimates that the trade finance gap in Latin America alone stands at US$350bn. Though SME exporters handle around half of all global trade, they face a 50% rejection rate for financing applications to banks.