Fintech venture 129Knots secures US$10 million in funding

FINTECH venture 129Knots has made its debut – and secured a US$10 million investment from Sing Fuels, an oil trading company.

The startup has built origination-to-distribution technology – tech that helps offload loans to spread risk – and is backed by a US$500 million deal pipeline. Its tech solutions cut across segments like trade credit, trade audit trails, credit-risk assessment and trade governance.

129Knots was incubated and launched under the Singapore Economic Development Board’s Corporate Venture Launchpad (CVL) programme, which guides companies on creating ventures and working with startups on these, in partnership with venture studio partners and open innovation partners.

Sing Fuels teamed up with McKinsey & Company, a CVL partner, to validate its market opportunity, and launch 129Knots.

Vikash Dhanuka, founder and chief executive officer of Sing Fuels, said: “The homogeneous approach of balance-sheet led lending is obsolete. A one-size-fits-all approach simply fails in a dynamic sector such as global trade.”

Mahesh Kumar, co-founder and interim chief executive officer of 129Knots, said: “At the forefront of the real-world asset economy, 129Knots strives to become the world’s most trusted originator and distributor of real-world assets and to revolutionise deep-tier trade industries with safe, efficient and next-gen secure chain technologies.”