South Korea-based food and agriculture networking and intelligence service Tridge has raised $10.5m, Reuters has reported, with telecommunications and internet group SoftBank among the investors according to Fortune.
SoftBank Ventures Asia, a corporate venture capital vehicle for SoftBank, joined Activant Capital and Forest Partners to provide $5.5m in series A funding for the company. Fortune reported on Wednesday. It is unclear who supplied the extra financing.
Tridge has set up a trade and intelligence portal enabling food retailers to source produce from ethical and sustainable farms in developing countries.
Powered by artificial intelligence, data analytics and other algorithms, the platform is pitched as facilitating cross-border trade that is conscious of ethical demands from end-consumers.
Hoshik Shin, Tridge’s founder and CEO, told Reuters: “At the moment, suppliers in emerging countries are so restricted to just meeting local buyers. Through our platform, they can meet foreign buyers more easily … prices will improve and that gives bigger benefits to both farmers and their employees.”