AXenS

AXenS runs on an enterprise-grade Blockchain Technology to support global trade activities with the tools needed to participate in the most highly-available and highly-scalable network where logistical and supply chain services, financial and insurance services, government agencies and customs authorities can inter-operate and collaborate in the most secure way.

AXenS alleviates costly delays and financial risks involved with imports and exports, thus enabling businesses of all sizes to react quickly to business opportunities.

AXenS will support the development of the impact investment market both through its trade finance and supply chain management facilities. In particular we want to see more investment focused on:

Inclusive, accessible, affordable innovations that address major social needs.

Delivering positive social outcomes regardless of legal form.

The standard of evidence of a venture’s impact.

Profitable, sustainable and resilient business models capable of scaling their impact.

AXenS is an initiative of a consortium of Global Commodities Trading Companies led by Assefa Swaye Capital Management. The aim is to both leverage the advantages of the current transformational technology while increasing the critical mass and frequency of trade activity. It has been possible through a joint venture with AXenS, an award winning Blockchain technology firm and other world class developers.

Trade is the engine of the world economy. It is essential to the movement of goods at all stages of the supply chain, which involves a broad variety of companies and institutions and each is focused on a step in the logistics chain: for example, processing and manufacturing, freight forward/inward, customs inspections and quality control. By the time the chain is complete, multiple physical and financial transactions have taken place, generating a staggering number of paper-based documents that can only be authenticated and validated through timeconsuming and opaque processes.

A healthy cash flow position is fundamental for driving continued growth. For Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in emerging countries (which account for the majority of both employment and output), it is the daily challenge they have to overcome. The SMEs need smoother and quicker access to short term funding in order to grow and develop their ability to spend working capital (CAPEX) and innovate, with the support of a broader range of financial sponsors and financial vehicles bespoke to their requirements. On the other hand, liquidity providers need to deploy capital through a much more secure and efficient framework that enables them to tailor their risk profile vis-à-vis both credit and counterparty risk.

AXenS is a secure and curated digital market place to provide both liquidity and efficiency to the import-export supply chain.

It has only been made possible with the recent maturation of Blockchain / Distributed Ledger Technology into enterprise-grade iterations. AXenS is a place that is tradefocused from the ground-up and that is secure not only by cutting-edge cryptography but also by customizable trust models, which make it possible to guarantee both data privacy and auditability required by the many players in the industry: businesses, logistics, financial services, insurances, authorities, etc.

Ultimately, AXenS is a B2B market place and the one single and unique “place of truth” for Supply Chain Finance and Trade Services, where electronic transactions and all the related assets and documents are securely posted, automated and made publicly verifiable.

This document focuses on the blockchain-based services AXenS will launch. As a first step: “mesocredit”, with an emphasis on Supply/Trade Finance, KYC/AML-based deal rating, as well as an efficient and look-through supply chain management services, which will require the use of AXS crypto-tokens.

• The World Trade Organization estimates that 80% to 90% of the world’s trade relies on trade finance.
• According to the World Bank, the current credit gap for SMEs is estimated to be US$1.2 trillion growing to as high as US$2.6 trillion should we add informal SMEs to the picture.
• Trade finance directly supports about one-third of global trade, with letters of credit covering about one-sixth of total trade.
• According to the Asian Development Bank, SMEs comprised 98 percent of all enterprises in the Asia-Pacific, employed 66 percent of the national labor force, contributed 38 percent of GDP.

Mesocredit, SMEtargeted Supply Chain Finance

AXenS will facilitate export/import financing for collaborating business partners through different forms of lending, using financial instruments, practices and technologies in order to optimize the management of the working capital and the liquidity tied up in supply chain processes. The development of advanced technologies to track and control events in the physical supply chain creates opportunities to automate the initiation of Supply Chain Finance interventions.

SMEs often cannot get financing from both banks and microcredit institutions (MFIs). Thus, the provision of mesocredit to this missing middle. AXenS will focus both on the supply chain process and on the tail-end of the production cycle in which products are made export-ready.