We.trade, the Dublin-based blockchain firm backed by several major global banks, has seen losses grow amid a decline in revenue.
The joint venture was established in Dublin in 2017 and is backed by banks including HSBC, Santander, Deutsche Bank and UBS as well as software tech company IBM.
It builds a platform for trade finance for banks using blockchain technology and licenses its products to banks in more than a dozen countries.
In its recently filed accounts for 2020, We.trade booked revenues of 3.9 MIL, down from 4.3 MIL the year before while losses increased to $8 MIL from 7.8 MIL in 2019.
We.trade said the Covid-19 pandemic has “materially affected” its business and its customers.
It added that disruptions at customers’ businesses last year have “resulted in delayed, reduced, or cancelled orders, collection risks, and requests for contract negotiations, which adversely affect our results of operations”.
In January of this year, We.trade secured funding of 5.5MIL from its existing investors and CRIF, the Italian credit information provider. According to the company, it “has already secured a substantial part of its funding requirements for 2021 and future years”.
At the same time as its January funding announcement, We.trade’s general manager overseeing the Dublin-based operations, Ciaran McGowan, left the role. The company also more than doubled its headcount from 10 to 21 last year.
