August 31, 2022

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

South Korean B2B agrifood platform Tridge closed on a $37 million Series D led by DSAsset, bringing total funding to-date to nearly $120 million, and lifting its valuation from $500 million when it raised its $60 million Series C in 2021 to $2.7 billion today. 

Founded by commodity investor Hoshik Shin in 2015, Tridge is improving global supply chains through digitization as a means of removing barriers inherent to traditional commodity trading. To achieve this goal, the company has dual objectives: to digitize market intelligence and fulfillment service.

The Tridge platform acts as a meeting place, bringing together agricultural buyers and seller; integrating agricultural market networks and real-time market information, which together, foster higher efficiency in trading and greater food security by allowing parties on both sides of a trade to deal directly, eliminating the need for third parties and reducing time taken by phone conversations, emails, and other outdated processes.

Adam Bergman, managing director at EcoTech Capital, noted the critical point our food supply chains are facing in large part due to outdated infrastructure and processes in his article, COVID-19 Exposes Paradox of Simultaneous Food Shortages and Food Waste, published by GAI News in April 2020, saying, “Any food wasted during normal times is unfortunate, but right now, with so many people faced with the prospect of being unable to afford to feed their family since unemployment has skyrocketed, it is more essential than ever to focus on establishing a more effective food production and distribution network.”

Bergman went on to add, “Another benefit of a more dynamic global supply chain would be that growers and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies could respond more rapidly to changing consumer trends, such as the latest fad diet or the current trend to eat more plant-based proteins.”

Tridge’s market intelligence platform, launched in 2020, provides analysis of supply chains and market reports on a range of ag commodities and foods, including fruits, tomatoes, avocados, seafood, coconuts, seafood, and peppercorn. All told, Tridge has amassed data on approximately 15,000 agricultural products including 50,000 price updates, and claims it has cumulatively gathered in excess of 1 trillion data points on transactions occurring over time on a global scale in Brazil, Australia, Canada, the U.S., India, the Netherlands, Turkey, and Tanzania. 

Utilizing its global subsidiaries together with its wide-reaching global network and database, Tridge currently has more than 400,000 subscribers to its platform.

“We are delighted to participate in this round because we believe in both Tridge’s vision and their business model,” said DS Asset Management. “Solving global food supply disruptions is an important mission for all of us.”

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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