Madrid and Amsterdam-based Twinco Capital is a fintech company that aims to build competitive and socially responsible supply chains. It engages with large corporates to offer their suppliers access to affordable funding, from purchase order to final invoice payment.
Raises equity funding
In a recent development, the fintech startup has announced that it has raised €3M in equity funding.
The raised capital was led by Mundi Ventures, a Spanish venture capital fund that has a strategic focus in B2B. In addition, existing investors including Finch Capital and several private business angels have also participated in this round.
Besides, Twinco Capital also has a debt facility with the Spanish investment bank EBN Banco de Negocios, which is usual for any lending company.
Javier Santiso, the founder of Mundi Ventures, comments, “Twinco Capital strengthens the relationships between corporations and both large and small suppliers in emerging economies. In an era of stressed supply chains and global competition, maintaining win-win relationships with suppliers and all stakeholders means that multinationals have an edge over competitors and that is invariably reflected in the performance of the companies.”
Twinco Capital offers loans to market suppliers when they receive a purchase order so that they can buy raw materials and pay wages before they actually receive invoices from customers.
Use of the funds
The raised capital will be used to fuel the continued expansion of Twinco Capital that already supplies large retailers and their networks of suppliers with affordable working capital.
“In our view, affordable liquidity to suppliers, available from the beginning of the production cycle, is the holy grail of supply chain finance. It is the key to building competitive and socially responsible supply chains,” says Sandra Nolasco, founder and CEO of Twinco Capital.
She adds, “Twinco already funded over $10M of purchase orders for suppliers of European retailers, located in Thailand, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan, South Korea, Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Spain. We aim to impact on a much larger scale and this round will take us a step further to achieving our goal.”
Everything about the venture capital fund
The company was founded in 2016 by female cofounder duo Sandra Nolasco (CEO) and Carmen Marin Romano (COO). Twinco Capital claims to be the first company to launch a global supply chain finance solution that includes purchase order funding. It is a model that reduces financing costs and risks for both buyers and suppliers.
The entire process is digital with a quick decision and fast deployment of funds. This is done with Twinco’s supply chain analytics and the data it is able to access by partnering with both sides of the supply chain.
Through integration with large corporates, Twinco funds their suppliers by paying up to 60% of the purchase order value upfront and the remainder immediately upon delivery.
Nolasco told TC, Twinco makes money by charging a “discount fee” for each purchase order it funds. “Since default rates are a fraction of that fee, we can unlock significant value,” says Nolasco.
Fintech’s female founders
According to the company, Twinco Capital is one of the few European high-growing fintechs led by women.
Sandra Nolasco, a founder (CEO) and mother of 9-year old twins, has over 20 years of trade finance experience in major European commercial banks. Sandra started her trade finance career with Fortis Bank commodity trade finance team, first in Rotterdam dealing with asset-backed finance, then in London leading the structured commodity portfolio in Latin America, and finally in Sao Paulo, as Chief Representative Officer Brazil.
Before she ventured into the trade finance arena, Sandra worked as an associate consultant at Mckinsey & Co in Portugal, and at Semapa S.A. as an internal advisor. She holds an Msc. in Economics and an MBA from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal.
Whereas, Carmen Marin, founder (COO) and mother of four children, exchanged a senior management position in investment banking to set up Twinco. Carmen has extensive experience in banking, with over 16 years of her professional career in Grupo Santander. She joined Santander in 2000 as a member of the Strategic Investments team, analysing and investing in equities for several proprietary portfolios. In 2008, she moved into the Global Project Finance Group, where she led transactions globally, in different sectors (Infrastructure and Natural Resources) across different geographies (from Europe to the US).
In 2013, Marin took full responsibility for the origination and the execution of global transactions as the Global Head of the Energy & Natural Resources team in Europe. She holds an International Business degree from ICADE and ESC-CESEM and is a CFA Charterholder.
