Acudeen Plans ICO To Migrate Factoring Tool To Blockchain

Singapore-based Acudeen prepares for an initial coin offering (ICO) as it plans to migrate its existing trade finance solution to a blockchain platform.

Reports in Global Trade Review on Wednesday (March 28) said Acudeen’s ICO will launch April 9 following a token presale. The company provides factoring solutions and hopes to shift its digital marketplace to a blockchain solution. Acudeen Technologies developed its cryptocurrency to facilitate invoice financing, saying it expects the blockchain factoring market to hit a $2 trillion valuation.

“The use of letters of credit is becoming less and less,” said Acudeen Co-Founder and CEO Magellan Fetalino in an interview with the publication. “It’s becoming harder even for medium-sized businesses to use letters of credit to get access to financing due to issues both in the market and regulatory environment.”

Earlier this month, Acudeen said it hopes to raise $35 million in its token sale, noting it will use the funds to expand across Asia.

“Proceeds from the token sale will be used to fund our expansion and our migration to blockchain technology,” said Acudeen Chairman Januario Jesus Gregorio Atencio III to BusinessMirror at the time. “It’s a utility token that will be used for transactions in the Acudeen platform.”

Following a Know Your Customer check, businesses can use the Acudeen platform to finance unpaid receivables via an array of investors. The company launched its factoring platform last December, but according to Fetalino, a shift to blockchain is key to ditching letters of credit and moving to smart contracts.

“Peer-to-peer platforms work best when the people who are part of it trust the system,” he told GTR. “What blockchain brings to the table, with the two technologies we’re using — Stellar and Hyperledger — is trust and reliability into the whole ecosystem, especially at the pace we’re growing.”

Another invoice financing company, Invox, launched its own ICO last month to sell Invox Tokens. The Australian company similarly offers a digital platform for companies to seek financing against their unpaid invoices.