Prague, Czech Republic-based 4Trans, a fintech company that specialises in financial products for supply chain and logistics companies, announced on Wednesday that it has secured €18M in a fresh round of funding.
The round comes after the company witnessed rapid growth in 2022, growing its customer base to 500 and seeing monthly revenue increase 10-fold on the back of the supply chain crisis.
To date, 4Trans has provided more than €30M in financing, protecting revenue from more than 50,000 invoices.
Investors
The funding came from Atmos Ventures, Tera Ventures, and Lighthouse Ventures. UK-based Impact investment fund management firm Advance Global Capital also extended a revolving credit facility.
Hadi Solh, Managing Partner at Atmos, says, “4Trans is a pioneer in AI-enabled risk assessment in supply chain financing. The speed at which the company is able to understand the real-time credit risk of the counterparties is unparalleled in trade finance-focused solutions in the market. We are confident that our investment will help 4Trans with increasing their international footprint.”
Co-founder of Lighthouse Ventures, Michal Zalesak, adds, “4Trans have created a solution that tackles a very real problem for Europe’s supply and logistics industry. Namely, there is very little financial protection for hauliers and SMEs. The simplicity and speed of 4Trans’ solution makes it a game-changer for hauliers. It’s a great application of AI and digitalisation. We are looking forward to supporting 4Trans on its journey and confident it will soon be a major player in European logistics.”
Capital utilisation
4Trans says that it will use the funds to develop its platform, grow international staff, strengthen home operations, and expand its services to Poland. The company will also assist small and medium-sized enterprises in the area with their working capital needs through the provision of loan finance.
CEO of 4Trans, Jaroslav Ton, says, “The supply chain crisis alongside political and economic uncertainty has led to a huge increase in delays to invoices being paid. This has put financial pressure on Europe’s small and medium-sized hauliers. Unfortunately, most traditional financial institutions simply do not cater to this group and those that do take too long to provide financing or require very large invoices. We’ve created a range of solutions that give the small and independent entrepreneurs within the European supply chain the protection they need and deserve”.
“With this new funding, we will be able to expand rapidly and develop the financial services we offer,” adds Ton.
Fastest financing solution to underserved businesses in logistics
Founded in 2018 by Jaroslav Ton, 4Trans provides financial products for small and medium-sized companies operating in supply and logistics – an industry that is currently poorly served by financial services.
Most of the 500,000 logistics firms in Europe suffer from a shortage of operating cash, 90-day invoice maturities, and, sometimes, expensive or inaccessible bank credit. This problem is resolved by 4Trans through factoring, which includes immediate payment of issued invoices, monitoring debtors’ payment patterns, and providing full financial support for logistics-related SMEs.
By using data analysis and automation, 4Trans is able to do instant risk modelling and, as the service is fully digitalised, customers can receive payment of invoices of any size in five minutes. This is in contrast to the three-month average for invoice payments.
With a total volume of financed invoices worth over €32M, the company aims to become the leader in SME financing in Europe.
