Ghanaian Liquify Secures $1.5M to Digitize Trade Finance for African Exporters

News World

Published by Stephen Oluwadara at July 3, 2025

How Liquify is Closing Africa’s Trade Finance Gap

Founded in 2023 by Nadya Yaremenko and Alberta Asafo-Asamoah, Liquify enables African exporters to convert unpaid invoices into immediate working capital by providing digital invoice financing.

Since launching its beta in late 2024, the company has facilitated over 150 transactions worth more than $4 million. Liquify primarily serves small and medium-sized exporters in Ghana and Kenya, who trade with buyers in Europe and North America.

“Liquify was built to unlock the $120 billion trade-finance gap holding back Africa’s most dynamic SMEs,” said Yaremenko, Liquify’s co-founder and CEO. “This seed round, along with the exceptional people joining our team, validates our vision. With our fully digital, AI-powered platform, exporters can turn unpaid invoices into same-day cash, while global investors access a new, uncorrelated asset class.”

The Ghanaian-based platform automates traditionally cumbersome trade finance processes — including onboarding, Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks, and credit scoring . This enables verified export invoices to be financed within hours, rather than weeks.

“Our technology removes the paperwork, delays, and prohibitive costs that have historically made it unfeasible for banks or development finance institutions to support smaller businesses,” Yaremenko explained. “The average bank process takes over 10 days and costs more than $10,000 to serve a single SME. We bring that down to a fraction of the time and cost.”

This approach has resonated with African SMEs, particularly those in the agri-commodity sector, who often face payment cycles of 30-90 days. Liquify’s solution provides a critical liquidity lifeline by allowing them to access same-day cash.

About The Co-Founders

Before co-founding Liquify, Yaremenko managed a $3 billion trade finance portfolio at Citi across emerging markets, witnessing firsthand the funding shortages faced by African SMEs after global banks retrenched post-financial crisis. Her co-founder, Asafo-Asamoah, an impact investor, observed that patient capital alone wasn’t enough to sustainably grow SME exports.

Their shared vision was to build a digital, AI-powered platform that delivers invoice financing “nine times faster and cheaper” than traditional channels, thereby bridging Africa’s trade finance gap.

Since launching, Liquify has onboarded dozens of exporters with repeat financing and zero customer churn. The company earns revenue by purchasing export invoices at a discount, providing liquidity to SMEs while offering short-term assets to investors.

What’s Next With Liquify

The equity round was led by early-stage investor Future Africa, with participation from Launch Africa, 54 Collective, Digital Africa, Equitable Ventures, and several angel investors. Additionally, Emerald Africa, an impact-focused lender, provided a debt facility to support Liquify’s growing liquidity needs.

With the new funding, Liquify plans to expand its Ghanaian team across product, technology, and customer success functions. It will enhance its AI-driven risk engines for faster due diligence and compliance checks.

The fintech also aims to enter new markets across Anglophone and Francophone Africa, starting with Nigeria. Additionally, it will pilot structured investment products and digital tools to help exporters manage trade documentation more efficiently.

However, the journey hasn’t been without its challenges. Liquify has faced significant hurdles, including navigating multi-country compliance, building trust among SMEs accustomed to informal credit, and educating global investors about the viability of SME trade finance. “Convincing SMEs to adopt a formal, digital solution took time, but our speed and reliability have helped build trust,” said Yaremenko. “The biggest challenge is showing investors that SME trade finance isn’t just viable – it’s an investable, scalable asset class.”

Liquify aims to transform overlooked trade receivables into a diversified, financeable asset class. By doing this, the startup believes its model can help African SMEs grow their exports more sustainably by providing predictable and affordable working capital.

This approach also provides investors with exposure to short-term, low-correlation instruments that are shielded from broader market volatility. “By turning slow-paying invoices into same-day cash, we’re not just helping SMEs survive – we’re giving them the tools to thrive,” Yaremenko added.

Main Image: Nadya Yaremenko and Alberta Asafo-Asamoah, Liquify’s Co-Founders. Image Credit: Liquify