Here’s the 14-page pitch deck that 40Seas, a fintech looking to bring “buy now pay later” to the trade industry, used to raise $16 million

• 40Seas is a startup that offers software and financing options for global importers and exporters.
• It raised an $11 million seed round in January and raised an additional $6 million in an extension.
• Here’s the pitch deck the startup used to fundraise, which attracted investors like QED Investors.

Even though his startup 40Seas only launched seven months ago, for Eyal Moldovan, the business has been decades in the making. 

Growing up, Moldovan worked at his dad’s retail store in Israel unpacking giant containers of clothes shipped in from China and India. He would listen to his father argue and negotiate with his suppliers about payments — the exporters wanted advanced payments before shipping their goods, and his dad only wanted to pay for goods once he received them, Moldovan, 40Seas’s CEO, said. 

“Twenty years has passed, but nothing really changed in the environment,” Moldovan, who is based in Tel Aviv, told Insider. “There’s still trust issues between exporters and importers about payment terms,” he added. On top of that, small and medium-sized importers and exporters still rely on manual and offline processes. 

So in January 2022, Moldovan, Igor Zaks, Gil Shiff, and Suki Gao cofounded 40Seas, combining their experiences across payments, cross-border markets, corporate credit, and data science. The startup, which launched in January 2023, offers its so-called “order now, pay later” financing for importers and exporters to bridge the financing gap.

It uses artificial intelligence to underwrite the debt, which is offered through a $100 million credit facility lent by ZIM, an existing strategic investor. 40Seas pays exporters using the credit facility when the goods are shipped and then collects money from importers on the due date of their invoice. The fintech also provides software to digitize order flows and payment processes for both import and export companies. 

The payment disconnect in global trade plays out on a large scale and investors are looking to capitalize on a potential solution. 40Seas raised its seed round in January as investors funneled $11 million into the fledgling startup. Now, the startup raised an additional $6 million in a seed extension round that saw QED Investors and Eminence Ventures join existing backers, Team8 and ZIM, a global container shipping line that moves cargo overseas. Moldovan declined to disclose a valuation.

“Global trade is a huge market with $32 trillion in volume of goods moved across the world every year, but access to capital is highly constrained for small and medium importers and exporters,” Camila Key Saruhashim, principal at QED, said in a statement. 

The funding comes at a time when fintechs are struggling to raise capital. Investors doled out less than $8 billion to fintechs globally in Q2, according to CB Insights’ latest data on fintech funding. The second quarter was the lowest level of funding to the sector since 2017. 

40Seas founders and investors are based around the world, from the US and Canada to Israel and China. Since launching in the market, the startup has gained hundreds of customers across dozens of countries in Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Americas. It supports importers in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand and exporters in nearly all countries. For now, 40Seas makes money via a fee for its financing options, but it plans to start charging a subscription-based fee for its software (which is currently offered for free), Moldovan said.

Here’s the 14-page pitch deck 40Seas used to raise its seed and seed extension.