Liquify, a Ghana-based fintech startup aiming to modernize trade finance for African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), has raised $1.5 million in an oversubscribed seed equity round, alongside additional debt financing. The new funding marks a critical step in the company’s mission to bridge Africa’s estimated $120 billion annual trade finance shortfall.

The equity round was led by early-stage investor Future Africa, with participation from Launch Africa, 54 Collective, Digital Africa, Equitable Ventures, and several angel investors. Emerald Africa, an impact-focused lender, provided a debt facility to support Liquify’s growing liquidity needs.

Founded in 2023 by Nadya Yaremenko and Alberta Asafo-Asamoah, Liquify helps African exporters convert unpaid invoices into immediate working capital by offering digital invoice financing. Since launching its beta in late 2024, the company has facilitated over 150 transactions worth more than $4 million, largely serving SME exporters in Ghana and Kenya who trade with buyers in Europe and North America.

“Liquify was built to unlock the $120 billion trade-finance gap holding back Africa’s most dynamic SMEs,” said Yaremenko, Liquify’s co-founder and CEO. “This seed round, along with the exceptional people joining our team, validates our vision. With our fully digital, AI-powered platform, exporters can turn unpaid invoices into same-day cash, while global investors access a new, uncorrelated asset class.”

Liquify’s platform automates traditionally cumbersome trade finance processes — including onboarding, Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks, and credit scoring — allowing verified export invoices to be financed within hours instead of weeks.

“Our technology removes the paperwork, delays, and prohibitive costs that have historically made it unfeasible for banks or development finance institutions to support smaller businesses,” Yaremenko explained. “The average bank process takes over 10 days and costs more than $10,000 to serve a single SME. We bring that down to a fraction of the time and cost.”

This approach has resonated with African SMEs, especially those in the agri-commodity sector, many of whom face payment cycles of 30–90 days while waiting for overseas buyers to settle invoices. Liquify’s solution allows them to access same-day cash, providing a critical liquidity lifeline.

Before co-founding Liquify, Yaremenko managed a $3 billion trade finance portfolio at Citi across emerging markets. She witnessed firsthand how global banks’ post-financial crisis retrenchment exacerbated funding shortages for African SMEs. Her co-founder Asafo-Asamoah, an impact investor at organizations including TBN and Seedstars, saw similar limitations from the other side — observing that patient capital alone was insufficient to sustainably grow SME exports.

Their shared vision was to build a fully digital, AI-powered platform that could deliver invoice financing “nine times faster and cheaper” than traditional trade finance channels, creating a scalable alternative to bridge the continent’s trade finance gap.

Since launch, Liquify has onboarded dozens of exporters who now rely on the platform for repeat financing, with zero customer churn reported. The company earns revenue by purchasing export invoices at a discount, providing liquidity to SMEs while offering short-term, self-liquidating assets to investors.

With the new funding, Liquify plans to:

• Expand its Ghanaian team across product, technology, and customer success functions.
• Enhance its AI-driven risk engines for faster due diligence and compliance checks.
• Enter new markets across Anglophone and Francophone Africa, starting with Nigeria.
• Pilot structured investment products and digital tools to help exporters manage trade documentation more efficiently.

However, the road has not been without challenges. Navigating multi-country compliance, building trust among SMEs accustomed to informal credit, and educating global investors about the viability of SME trade finance have all posed significant hurdles.

“Convincing SMEs to adopt a formal, digital solution took time, but our speed and reliability have helped build trust. The biggest challenge is showing investors that SME trade finance isn’t just viable — it’s an investable, scalable asset class,” said Yaremenko.

Liquify aims to transform trade receivables from overlooked obligations into a diversified, financeable asset class. The startup believes its model could ultimately help African SMEs grow exports more sustainably by providing predictable, affordable working capital — while giving investors exposure to short-term, low-correlation instruments insulated from broader market volatility.

“By turning slow-paying invoices into same-day cash, we’re not just helping SMEs survive — we’re giving them the tools to thrive,” Yaremenko said.