Rupert Sayer, co-founder and chief executive officer of GTR and GTR Ventures
GTR Investment Platform Is World’s First Dedicated To Fintechs For Trade (#TradeTechs)
Singapore, September 5th, 2017 – The world’s leading trade finance-focused media and events firm Global Trade Review (GTR) has launched its investment arm, GTR Ventures (GTRV), during its annual GTR Asia Trade & Treasury Week in Singapore ─ the world’s largest gathering of global trade finance decision makers.
GTR Ventures is the world’s first investment firm solely supporting and innovating alongside banks, insurers, corporates, and tradetechs specifically for trade and trade finance. The firm’s mandate includes mobilising greater private capital into trade and small-and-medium enterprise (SME) lending, particularly in emerging markets.
GTRV will offer multiple stakeholders ranging from tradetech entrepreneurs, investors, private companies, banks and governments the unique opportunity to collaboratively test and benefit from integrating cutting-edge financial technology into trade activities. GTRV will not only stimulate public interest in an evolving asset class, it will also serve as a platform to bring together the required expertise to channel more private capital into trade finance.
GTRV will focus on four main investment areas:
Once validated by GTRV’s committees comprising domain specific specialists, tradetechs in these four main investment areas coming through the GTRV platform will have unrivalled access to the markets and target clients that they are looking to connect with and expand. They will engage with the world’s most powerful trade finance community and with accredited investors looking for access to promising and solid trade-related assets. Tradetechs benefit from increased profiling, marketing, advice and support, through GTR’s proven and trusted networks.
GTRV will be managed by Rupert Sayer (co-founder and chief executive officer), Kelvin Tan (co-founder and chief investment officer), both in Singapore, and Peter Gubbins (co-founder and executive director) in London. In addition, GTRV will enjoy the guidance of a close advisory board comprising highly prominent global trade, insurance and investment leaders who know and understand trade and trade finance. GTRV will also be supported by a technology panel and a series of investment committees pertaining to each identified trade finance sub-sector.
Tan was until recently deputy director, trade finance & capital markets development at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and before that senior investment officer at the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC). He also was deputy director, emerging markets at Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Sayer has an editorial and political research background, having been an editor at Euromoney Institutional Investor and Ark Publishing before co-founding GTR. Gubbins headed sales and marketing at various Euromoney and Ark titles.
1: Leading Trade Finance experts discuss latest trends in fintech along the Belt & Road
2: Kelvin Tan (left), co-founder and chief investment officer of GTR Ventures
Leading Trade Finance experts discuss latest trends in fintech along the Belt & Road
Kelvin Tan (Left), co-founder and chief investment officer of GTR Ventures
Rupert Sayer, co-founder and chief executive officer of GTR Ventures says: “We spent 15 years building the GTR media brand into a trusted source of knowledge, networks and trends for the global trade community. There is arguably no trade banker out there who has not read GTR or who has not attended our many conferences, be it in Singapore, Shanghai, Dubai, London, Mumbai, Jakarta, Cape Town, Mexico, or Chicago. Our vision for GTRV is to leverage this powerful community and accelerate innovation in the global trade and trade finance sectors. Starting out from our bases in London and Singapore, both fintech capitals of the world, GTRV will be a pivot point in the world of investments into trade.”
Kelvin Tan, co-founder and chief investment officer of GTR Ventures, says: “Global trade is an annual, evergreen US$16 trillion sector. Regardless of economic cycles, global trade is here to stay. Yet its merits as an alternative investible asset class is not so widely known. With the huge global GTR community, we are here to change this, and champion trade finance as an asset class. Our initiatives to champion trade finance will enable both private and institutional investors to diversify their portfolios into a stable financial product with relatively low default rates. While the returns from trade have traditionally come from providers of debt capital, the emergence of fintechs for trade – tradetechs – should equally begin attracting private equity into this sector.”
Peter Gubbins, co-founder and executive director of GTR Ventures, says: “GTRV can nurture and accelerate entrepreneurial tradetechs which require considerable capital or experienced mentorship to bring exciting innovations to fruition in the market. With our bases in Singapore and London, two leading financial centres, GTRV will make a significant impact on the global trade ecosystem.”
ABOUT GLOBAL TRADE REVIEW (GTR)
Global Trade Review (GTR), established in 2002 by Rupert Sayer and Peter Gubbins, is the world’s leading news source, publisher and event organiser for the global trade, commodity, export and supply chain finance industries. With offices in Singapore, London and Hong Kong, GTR provides benchmark coverage and in-depth information into the latest developments in emerging markets trade finance. GTR events are the trade finance industry’s biggest and most respected around the world, with the leading industry players, governments, multilaterals and NGOs as supporters and sponsors. Events number over 20 in six continents. GTR is part of Exporta Publishing & Events
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