Fishtail, a Boston-based trade finance automation platform, is the latest borrower to join the Percent Platform. As part of this new relationship, Fishtail joins our growing roster of financial technology platforms and providers, further emboldening our mission to make the world of private capital markets more open and equitable.
Founded in 2021 by supply chain and data veterans Marc Held, Nikos Papageorgiou, and Perry Johnson, Fishtail’s finance automation platform specializes in analyzing supply chain data to provide financing for global trade – with a focus on transactions between freight forwarding companies, shippers, exporters, and importers. As a value-oriented company, Fishtail seeks to provide liquidity to small- and medium-sized businesses in emerging markets and across industries. The company is also further developing proprietary software that tracks the flow of goods, money, and documents through a transaction’s lifecycle.
The Asian Development Bank pegs global trade exports to be valued at $20 trillion, with a financing gap estimated at $1.7 trillion (as of 2020). As financial institutions have reduced and cut credit lines to traders — especially to small- and medium-sized businesses — an opportunity exists for non-bank financial institutions such as Fishtail to provide financing for this underserved customer segment.
Percent investors will soon gain access to notes backed by Fishtail’s customer portfolio, opening up a new way to invest in SMB trade financing to Percent investors. Fishtail will also utilize Percent’s Borrower suite and gain access to flexible, low cost of capital from our thousands of investors, while also accessing a wealth of industry data and tools to help with Fishtail’s company and customer growth.