A Ghanaian fintech startup is unlocking trapped revenue for African SME exporters by helping them access cash from unpaid invoices in hours, not weeks.
Liquify, founded in 2023 by Nadya Yaremenko and Alberta Asafo-Asamoah, is building a digital invoice finance platform designed to solve a key pain point in Africa's export sector — delayed payments that often stretch between 30 and 90 days. For small and medium-sized businesses, this waiting period can stall growth, limit production, or even lead to business failure.
With Liquify, exporters upload verified export invoices to a fully digital platform that uses AI to conduct KYC, anti-money laundering, and credit checks — and then connects them to global financiers ready to fund those invoices. The result? Instant liquidity for SMEs and a new asset class for impact-driven investors.
"We unlock cash trapped in unpaid invoices," said co-founder Yaremenko, a former Citi banker who once managed a $3 billion trade finance portfolio across emerging markets. "Exporters get funded within hours, and investors gain access to short-term assets that are largely unaffected by public market volatility."
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The model is simple: Liquify buys export invoices at a discount, enabling SMEs to receive early payment, while global investors earn returns when the invoices mature. Since launching, the startup has completed over 100 transactions worth more than $2.5 million — with zero customer churn.
The company currently operates in Ghana and Kenya, mostly serving exporters of agricultural commodities who trade with buyers in Europe and North America. Expansion plans include Nigeria and Francophone Africa, where demand for trade finance remains high but access is still limited.
"Traditional trade finance is slow, expensive, and paper-heavy — and that locks SMEs out," said Asafo-Asamoah, who previously worked as an impact investor at TBN and Seedstars. "We built Liquify to be digital, scalable, and tailored to small business needs."
Backed by investors such as Techstars, Launch Africa, and Digital Africa, Liquify recently raised $1.5 million in seed funding and secured its first debt facility from an impact-focused lender. The team is also developing structured products for institutional investors and digital tools to help exporters track trade documents in one place.
Despite regulatory and compliance challenges across different countries, Liquify is pushing forward with a mission to make trade finance more inclusive. "We're proving that SME trade finance is not just viable," said Yaremenko, "it's scalable, investable, and essential for Africa's economic future."
