ImpactAlpha, October 30 — Madrid-based Twinco Capital has secured a $53 million line of credit to make loans to small businesses in emerging markets, which face a $2.5 trillion trade financing gap. The Spanish fintech startup partners with large fashion and retail companies to extend low-cost working capital to suppliers in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Spain.
The debt investment came from Madrid-based BBVA Spark, which was carved out of the financial services giant’s balance sheet last year. Twinco is reinventing supply-chain financing “by incorporating innovative environmental and social criteria into their supplier financing model,” said BBVA’s Roberto Albaladejo.
Sustainable supply chains
Since it launched in 2019, Women-led Twinco has extended $250 million to suppliers. It fronts up to 60% of purchase orders, with the rest paid upon delivery. Twinco foregoes collateral to streamline the process for small suppliers.
“Technology and machine learning provide invaluable data insights on commercial, financial and ESG suppliers’ performance, giving our customers a state-of-the-art supply chain risk management tool,” explained Twinco’s Carmen Marin. Twinco scored $12 million in an equity and debt round led by Quona Capital earlier this year.
