Image credits: Maarten Elferink
Vosbor, an Amsterdam-based digital marketplace for global trade in bulk agricultural commodities, announced in July, that it has secured $7M (approximately €6.8M) in a Seed round of funding led by Lux Capital. Market One Capital, FJ Labs, 7percent Ventures, Athos Capital, and Nucleus Capital also participated in the round.
The company also revealed that Chris Mahoney, former CEO of Glencore Agriculture, and Soren Schroder, former CEO of Bunge, have invested and joined the company’s team.
Besides funding, the Dutch company unveiled its flagship trading platform, enabling buyers and sellers to connect and trade corn, wheat, soybean, palm oil, and 14 other agricultural commodities in a transparent and secure environment. Vosbor says 35 companies in the agricultural commodity trade are currently piloting the platform.
What does Vosbar solve?
Food production and consumption aren’t always local. In fact, most countries rely on importing food from other places. This is because different areas of the world specialise in various crops.
For example, the U.S., Brazil, Russia, and Ukraine are breadbaskets because they produce more crops than they consume domestically. When exports from these countries are disrupted, it can cause a global food crisis, as we’ve seen in 2008, 2011, and today.
War in Ukraine has severely exacerbated the current situation, but it’s important to remember that agricultural commodity prices were already at record highs before the war began. Again, climate change is a significant driver of this trend.
Here’s where Amsterdam’s Vosbor comes into play
Vosbor: What you need to know
Founded by Maarten Elferink in 2019, Vosbor brings the physical agricultural commodities markets online to manage risk and commodity flows better.
The company aims to make agricultural commodity trading cheaper and markets more accessible.
By digitising the agriculture trade, Vosbor is easing the threats to global food security, as existing offline markets are inadequate to build systemic resilience.
“The agricultural commodity trade — the backbone of our global food supply — still takes place offline, although more than $30T in physical commodities and otc derivatives is transacted every year,” says Maarten Elferink, CEO of Vosbor.
He adds, “We make commodity trading cheaper and markets more accessible. In addition, we’re working on new derivatives that will give retail investors a better opportunity to participate in commodity markets while lowering basis risk for industry participants — farmers, traders, millers, crushers, and manufacturers alike. Farmers especially stand to gain, as worldwide few make use of futures to hedge price risk today.”
Vosbor is based in Amsterdam, with additional offices in Singapore.
Lux Capital: What you need to know
Based out of New York, Lux Capital is a venture capital firm that invests in emerging science and technology ventures. The company has $4B AUM, 30 full-time professionals, and invests at any stage, from $100,000 to $100M.
The VC invests across multiple sectors, including 3D printing, machine learning, artificial intelligence, flying robots, surgical robots, synthetic biology, genomics, satellites, space, drones, computational imaging, and recognition.
“By digitising the agricultural trade, Vosbor is effectively taking the first critical step in alleviating the threats to global food security, as existing offline markets are inadequate to build systemic resilience,” says Peter Hébert, co-founder and managing partner of Lux Capital.
He adds, “Vosbor’s vision is bold, and they’re led by an exceptional team capable of transforming vast commodity markets. Lux Capital is honoured to be a part of Vosbor’s journey, and we are eager to work closely with the team to ensure its long-term success.”
Catch our interview with Paul Down, Head of Sales at Intigriti.
