Chairman and CEO Srinivas Koneru shares some thoughts on Triterras’ expansion in Supply Chain Finance and the Invoice Bazaar Acquisition
May 20, 2021
Our Expansion Continues: Entering the Middle East Region and the Supply Chain Finance Vertical
By Srinivas Koneru
Last week, we signed definitive agreements for our first acquisition as a public company, acquiring Invoice Bazaar, a leading platform for supply chain finance, accounts receivable financing and e-commerce supplier financing based in Dubai.
Invoice Bazaar was founded in 2016 by a team of highly experienced commercial bankers out of Citi with a specialty in supply chain finance. Like Triterras, their goal was to digitize an analog marketplace. Taking a tech-first approach as we have, they have built the leading platform of their kind in the region.
We cannot emphasize enough that this is a truly transformative moment for our company, allowing us to accomplish several growth goals at once.
First, it gives us a far larger physical footprint in the Middle East – a strategically important geography for us – with all relevant licenses to conduct business in the region. Had we tried to penetrate this market purely on our own, the licensing and permitting process would have taken a long time to complete – and at great expense. Upon the closing of this transaction, Triterras is now open for business in the Middle East, operating a full suite of products and services, including e-commerce, as Invoice Bazaar, powered by Triterras.
Second, this combination opens up the Supply Chain Finance vertical on the Kratos platform. Like our original marketplace of trade finance, supply chain finance is a $1 trillion+ market opportunity, especially among SMEs. Over time, we intend to integrate Invoice Bazaar’s capabilities with Kratos. Additionally, through this transaction we now have exclusive access to fund suppliers on three e-commerce platforms in the region. Our plan is to expand and port these e-commerce capabilities to other geographies in due course.
Third, the potential synergies are great. While we are both dedicated to the SME segment of the market, Invoice Bazaar brings some high-level enterprise relationships and origination capabilities that would have been difficult to source on our own. Stakeholders from each side will have access to an array of value-added services and lending relationships that they might not have had previously. Furthermore, our technology-first cultures should lead to incredible collaborations on all aspects of each other’s businesses.
Last but not least, we are welcoming to the Triterras team an elite group of professionals. Invoice Bazaar’s founding team, led by Anand Nagaraj, will now be joining the Triterras Leadership team. Comprised of 3 ex Citi bankers heading its Middle Eastern SCF product, the team brings very strong credentials and local knowledge, bolstering our Business Development team.
We could not be more excited for the growth ahead!