Standard Chartered Invests in Blockchain-driven Supply Chain Finance Platform Linklogis

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Standard chartered has made a strategic investment in Shenzhen-based supply chain financing platform Linklogis.

Standard Chartered announced on 9 January that it made the investment in Linklogis – its first ever investment in a Chinese supply chain platform, as well as the first investment made by a global bank in Linklogis.

Standard Chartered previously executed a memorandum of understanding with Linklogis in February 2019, for the joint development and delivery of supply chain financing services. The two parties have since completed several deep-tier supply chain financing transactions.

“Corporate clients globally are increasingly looking for efficient and secure digital platforms to meet their supply chain financing needs,” said Benjamin Hung, Regional CEO for Greater China & North Asia at Standard Chartered.

“Our strategic investment into Linklogis not only allows us to better serve our clients by being a part of their integrated ecosystem, it also reinforces our efforts to support China’s opening by facilitating the flow of capital, particularly for the Greater Bay Area.”

Linklogis’s supply chain financing platform makes use of WeQChina, which is in turn based on the TrustSQL technology developed by Tencent.

The company was first launched in 2016, with Tencent subsequently participating in three initial financing rounds and ICBC – China and the world’s largest bank – coming on board as a strategic partner.

The platform raised USD$260 million in capital prior to the investment from Standard Chartered, whose sum has not been disclosed.

In late 2018 Linklogis raised $220 million via a Series C financing round led by the Singapore Government Investment Corporation (GIC), which also saw the participation of Tencent, China Merchants Bank and Bertelsmann Asia.

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