Skyocean is global trade finance infrastructure that combines a trade data platform with physical export. It buys goods from producers, ships them in its own name and owns them until the buyer pays, and its platform verifies every shipment end to end. So Skyocean can finance merchants in markets banks can’t reach, secured by the cargo itself, not just a promise to pay. We grew out of an established export business, and today the financiers, partners and organisations who depend on a trade can check what they are looking at.
Where we came from
We did not start in software. We started in trade, moving real commodities across borders and living the problems first hand: paper documents that can be faked or delayed, financiers who cannot verify a shipment and so will not fund it, and small and mid-sized businesses in emerging markets shut out of financing entirely.
Our founder, Sebastian Gonzalez, has written about that journey since 2023, from where the thinking started to the model we run today: medium.com/@zbasg.
What we are building
A single window for every trade. The trade record, the shipping and customs documents, and independent logistics and payment data come into one connected, verifiable view. AI agents process the documents and cross-check them against each other and against independent sources, so any party can verify a trade end to end without trusting us. Sensitive fields stay private while the verifiable record stays shareable.
You can see this working today on our live audit dashboard, where sample trades and donations show their full audit trail. Our MVP application is live and moving to production.
Why it matters
Every year, $2.5 trillion of legitimate trade goes unfinanced, most of it in the emerging markets that need it most. By making trade verifiable, we let financiers fund with confidence and humanitarian organisations audit with ease. A retail participation layer is planned as Phase 2, once the company holds the EU authorisation it requires. Nothing is offered to individuals before then.
A new asset class for trade lenders
Banks lend against a buyer's promise to pay. Where they cannot judge the buyer or the country, they do not lend. We give your institution more to lend against: the cargo itself, not just the buyer's promise to pay.
Your institution's claim attaches to named cargoes, not to a pool or a vehicle. Each cargo it finances is allocated to its facility in the record, with its own documents, shipment and payment.
The protections come in layers: title until paid, because we ship the goods consigned to our own company; insurance with your institution as loss payee; a second buyer if the first does not pay, with the proceeds paid into the account your institution controls; and the audit record of every document, port and customs event and payment, open to your institution from first document to settlement.
Your institution lends to the Skyocean company in its own jurisdiction, under its own law, wherever Skyocean has a company.