The global trade and technology platform expands to the U.S. and widens its pandemic response to further support SMEs
Kountable, the leading global trade and technology platform, today announced additional funding in Series A-1 led by Lateral Capital.
Additional investors in this round include Bootstrap Labs, Kirk Bradley of Oracle, Position A Partners and Kountable’s impact family office investors.
The round also provided the initial capitalization of Kountable Capital Solutions, the liquidity engine behind Kountable’s global Treasury Cloud offering and Kountable’s Active Impact Allocator.
Kountable is the necessary missing element that gets critical goods delivered in challenging market conditions. It has solved the challenges of collaboration between qualified but underserved small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) who are critical but overlooked actors in the success of vast swaths of global trade activity, global multinational suppliers, funders and logistics and trade services providers.
The platform has activated the capability of SMEs at scale through its curated execution network for the past five years to efficiently complete large scale projects for governments, foundations, NGOs and corporations which have had a positive impact on the lives of millions.
“Global supply chains have never been more critical than they are today,” says Kountable CEO Christopher Hale. “It has always been a challenge for SMEs to connect to larger businesses and large payers to get critical goods where they need to go. Throughout the pandemic, that’s become mission-critical to solve and we’re positioned to meet that challenge with our track record for execution and delivery in difficult market conditions.”
Kountable will use the strategic capital to scale its business in global healthcare supply chains with a specific focus on the pandemic response. The funding investment will also be used to further enhance its trade and treasury cloud platform and launch its long anticipated U.S. membership offering with a specific focus on supplier diversity programs and inclusive supply chains.
“SMEs are the lifeblood of commerce in emerging markets. The friction and fragmentation faced by this customer base requires a high fidelity platform that enables trust and transparency. The bold, end to end technology solution offered by Kountable’s team across the US and Africa has the potential to unlock global trade between sophisticated customers large and small. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to support Chris and Kountable for the next chapter of their journey” said Rob Eloff, Managing Partner at Lateral, a leading US and Africa based VC fund. “Kountable’s product is equally relevant in San Francisco, Nairobi and Kigali. We are ready to support Kountable with its expansion across the African continent and in other fast growing markets” added Samakab Hashi, Nairobi based Partner with Lateral.
About Kountable– Kountable is a global trade and technology platform that delivers trust, transparency and auditability with data driven insights and real-time information from transactions where small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) work with enterprise level suppliers and buyers. It facilitates business between qualified SMEs and multinational suppliers in order to efficiently complete large scale projects for governments, NGOs and corporations. Launched in 2015, Kountable’s global presence currently includes offices in San Francisco, Nairobi, Kigali and The Hague.About Lateral Capital– Lateral Capital is a mission-driven VC fund. They accelerate and invest in early-stage and growth ventures in sub-Saharan Africa by deploying patient, long term oriented equity and debt capital to opportunities in three key verticals: commerce, human capital and real assets. Lateral invests alongside founders to unlock the potential of fast growing markets via foundational technology.
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