FSCO

FSCO, founded in 2017 by David Inderias and Ben Lyons, operates at the intersection of financial technology and agricultural supply chains. The company is headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, and aims to address the persistent cash flow challenges faced by farmers and producers. The founders bring a combined experience of over 40 years in technology and supply chain sectors. David Inderias, the CEO, transitioned from a career in medicine to technology, driven by a passion for solving complex problems in agribusiness through data. Co-founder Ben Lyons has a PhD in Agricultural Economics and over three decades of experience in the agriculture and finance sectors, focusing on improving international commodity transactions. Their collective expertise forms the foundation of FSCO's mission to enhance capital access for producers.

FSCO's core business revolves around providing Web3 financial infrastructure and AI-powered solutions to the agribusiness sector. The company operates as a finance broker, utilizing a proprietary platform to de-risk and streamline financing for its clients, who are typically mid-sized businesses with turnovers ranging from $70 million to $300 million. By collecting and verifying operational data on a blockchain, FSCO creates a transparent and trustworthy record of a producer's performance and contractual compliance. This high-quality data allows financial institutions, including banks and non-bank lenders, to make data-driven credit decisions with greater confidence, thereby reducing risk and financing costs for the producers. Clients pay FSCO for the data collection and, in return, can access working capital at significantly lower rates, potentially saving 15% to 20%.

The company leverages blockchain technology to ensure data integrity, which is then used to facilitate trade finance. This model initially focused on agribusiness but has the potential for application in other sectors like financial services, telecommunications, and ESG credits, wherever value needs to be securely and efficiently transferred. FSCO has established partnerships with major players, including Mastercard, to utilize its blockchain-based Mastercard Provenance Solution, further enhancing traceability and trust across supply chains. In February 2023, the company secured $709K in a seed funding round from Spenda, an institutional investor.

Keywords: supply chain finance, agribusiness technology, trade finance, blockchain finance, agtech, fintech, working capital solutions, data-driven lending, asset-backed financing, real-world assets, digital supply chain, agricultural finance, B2B payments, ESG credits, commodity transactions, Web3 infrastructure, AI-powered finance, producer financing, supply chain traceability, financial infrastructure