Let’s Make a Trade Enabling Global Trade for SME’s
SUMMARY
Hello OCEAN Friends,
We’ve been super busy so combining a couple months’ highlights into one newsletter.
- We welcome another new addition to our cap table, Matthew Hoffer, Co-founder of Spire Capital, an investment and advisory firm based in Switzerland.
- OCEAN has drawn down on $1million under our Bedford Row Capital facility and we have already started deploying into new purchase orders.
- Our “employee stack” is expanding with the addition of industry veteran Syam Nair, Chief Technology Officer, on a full-time basis.
- Over the last several weeks we’ve attended invitation only events at the Plug and Play (current investor) in Silicon Valley as well as Milken, SuperReturns & Family Office conferences.
GROWTH
EVENTS & CONFERENCES
We are extremely proud that OCEAN was invited to participate in Plug and Play’s ‘Supply Chain Selection Week Conference‘, connecting the best technology start-ups and the world’s largest corporations to drive change in supply chain & logistics. Plug and Play’s Supply Chain ecosystem consists of 45 bespoke corporate partners and has resulted in over 180 POCs and Pilots being delivered and we look forward to continuing our value-add relationship during our journey.
MANAGEMENT TEAM SPOTLIGHT
CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT
OCEAN has recently financed a UAE based company, PureBorn, an award-winning organic nappy and baby wipe company founded by Hannah Curran. Pureborn was launched in 2017 and has successfully developed their products to be safe for babies, with organic, sustainable, and compostable formulas and materials, and also provide parents with a healthier alternative & reduced carbon footprint to our planet Earth.
INDUSTRY NEWS
In terms of activity within our space – challenger South African digital bank TymeBank announced that it is acquiring Retail Capital, a fintech company that offers finance to small and medium enterprises.
The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approvals, will see Retail Capital become a division of TymeBank and the “foundation” of the bank’s expanded business banking offering, it said. TymeBank is majority owned by Patrice Motsepe’s African Rainbow Capital.
TymeBank’s business banking offering already has more than 100,000 customers and their service includes a transactional business account with no monthly bank fees, free debit card and online purchase transactions, and free bulk payments.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
We’re hiring so please share these open positions with your network:
- Chief Marketing Officer
- Chief Operating officer with experience in Fintech or Logistics tech
We plan to start Series A tech demos soon – for an early sneak peek, please feel free to sign up for the Tech Demo here.
CLOSING
Thanks to all for your support and guidance on this journey!
As we are growing rapidly, please reach out to myself or Mike Donovan if you are interested in equity or debt investments.
Vishal H. Kewalramani
Chairman & CEO
Valkin Limited DBA OCEAN https://www.thisisocean.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/vishalhk/
PS: Feel free to drop any time in my calendar here to catch up.