Singapore fintech startup, Xalts, flipped the script by acquiring Contour Network, a digital trade platform backed by heavyweights like HSBC, Standard Chartered, and BNP. The deal, cloaked in secrecy with undisclosed terms, is rumored to have fetched a price in the high single millions, paid in a mix of cash and stock.
Xalts, nurtured by the likes of Accel and Citi Ventures, boasts a business model that empowers financial institutions to craft and manage blockchain-based applications. On the flip side, Contour, launched in 2017 by a consortium of eight banking behemoths, aimed to revolutionize trade digitization and currently counts 22 banks and over 100 global businesses, including the illustrious Tata Group, Rio Tinto, and SAIC, as its users.
The brains behind Xalts are Ashutosh Goel and Supreet Kaur, former bigwigs at HSBC and Meta, respectively. Kaur, in an exclusive chat with TechCrunch, unveiled that the genesis of Xalts stemmed from the observation that large financial institutions and businesses often grapple with disparate processes for managing their financial products. From corporate loans to issuing letters of credit or bank guarantees, these tasks are typically handled by different teams within and outside their organizations. To streamline this labyrinthine process, Xalts offers a platform for businesses to develop and share their apps, not just internally but also externally, fostering a seamless ecosystem.
Xalts has set its sights on transforming Contour into a conduit linking banks, corporations, and other institutions, seamlessly integrating it with their platform. Kaur envisions this as a game-changer, allowing Xalts’ clients to not only build apps but also connect securely and compliantly with each other. The startup’s initial focus is on enabling banks and logistics companies to offer integrated trade and supply chain apps on a singular platform to their customers.
Despite the optimism surrounding global trade, which is forecasted to reach a staggering $30 trillion by 2030, traders continue to grapple with inefficiencies. Transactions often languish due to the manual nature of information exchange between importers, exporters, banks, logistics firms, and customs. Kaur identifies Xalts’ biggest growth area as enabling banks to forge stronger connections with corporate customers, offering bespoke B2B finance solutions, including trade finance and lending.
She paints a vivid picture with a scenario involving a global fast-fashion conglomerate with vendors in Vietnam and Bangladesh. Even if the conglomerate’s bank lacks a physical presence in these countries, it can still facilitate vendor financing through a one-click solution on its internal vendor portfolio by leveraging Xalts’ integrated apps.
Source: Tech in Asia | TN Global | TechCrunch)
