African trade finance for exporters digitized: Ghana's Liquify Secures $1.5M Funding
In a bid to modernize trade finance and unlock liquidity for African Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), Ghanaian fintech startup Liquify has secured $1.5 million in seed equity funding. The funding round, led by Future Africa, will be used to further develop Liquify's platform and expand its operations.
Founded in 2023, Liquify aims to tackle one of Africa's most persistent barriers to trade growth: liquidity constraints for exporters. By digitizing invoice financing, Liquify seeks to modernize trade finance, providing SMEs with operational cash flow within 24 to 48 hours as opposed to the traditional 30 to 90 days.
The core purpose of Liquify's platform is to convert unpaid invoices into near-instant working capital, addressing the critical trade finance gap in Africa, estimated at around $120 billion annually. Liquify leverages AI-powered risk engines to streamline due diligence, compliance, credit scoring, and invoice settlement, enabling invoice financing "nine times faster and cheaper" than traditional channels.
Since launching its beta platform in late 2024, Liquify has onboarded dozens of exporters, mainly in agricultural and light manufacturing sectors, and financed over $4 million in transactions with zero customer churn. This indicates strong product-market fit and trust building among SMEs.
Liquify's modernization of trade finance could potentially help fill the significant financing gap that disproportionately affects small and medium-sized exporters in Africa. The primary clients of Liquify are SME exporters in Ghana and Kenya trading with buyers in Europe and North America. Liquify claims to significantly reduce both the time and cost for financing, making it more accessible for smaller players, particularly in agriculture and commodities.
The funding round also included participation from Launch Africa, 54 Collective, Digital Africa, Equitable Ventures, and angel investors. Impact lender Emerald Africa provided a debt facility to boost Liquify's liquidity. Nadya Yaremenko, co-founder and CEO of Liquify, stated that the seed round and new team members validate their vision of building a digital rails system for African trade.
Challenges for Liquify include navigating multi-country compliance, building trust among SMEs who traditionally rely on informal credit, and convincing global investors about the viability and scalability of SME-focused trade finance in Africa. However, Liquify's progress and approach are significant because they tackle both supply and demand sides of trade financing. By digitizing and automating financial processes, they reduce the friction and delays exporters face. By packaging SME trade finance as a scalable, investable asset, they increase capital flow into the sector.
Looking ahead, Liquify plans to scale its operations across more African markets such as Nigeria and Francophone West Africa. The startup also intends to introduce structured investment products and tools to help exporters better manage trade documentation. Liquify's primary goal is to deepen relationships with global institutional investors to fund more trade deals, effectively bridging a significant financing gap while preparing to scale rapidly across the continent with advanced fintech solutions and investor-backed models.
Investing in technology and artificial intelligence plays a crucial role in Liquify's business, as these technologies power their AI-powered risk engines that streamline due diligence, compliance, credit scoring, and invoice settlement, providing faster and more cost-effective invoice financing.
By modernizing trade finance with technology, Liquify aims to unlock liquidity for African Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and fill the significant financing gap that disproportionately affects small exporters, ultimately promoting the growth of businesses and investing in the continent's economic development.
