TradeWindow to list on NZX

TradeWindow chair Alasdair MacLeod. Photo / Supplied

TradeWindow, a technology start-up, which has already received backing from ASB and Zuru Group co-owner Anna Mowbray, is to list on the stock exchange on Monday.

The trade-tech company's platform has digitised the process of managing exports and is expected to have a $79.1 million market capitalisation on listing.

Alasdair MacLeod, TradeWindow's chair, said the direct listing would further cement the company's status as a trusted partner for large commercial enterprises and government agencies, as it looks to rapidly scale up the business.

"As a software solutions provider for those on the frontline of global trade, trust and transparency are key. The disciplines and disclosures required of us as a listed entity will support our role as a trusted intermediary for our customers and partners.

"These include the many listed companies, co-operative entities and governments who use our software solutions to enable their international trade," MacLeod said.

In September TradeWindow raised $15m through a series A round and indicated it planned to list by Christmas.

Leading the investment round were existing shareholders ASB Bank, which provides trade finance to hundreds of New Zealand exporters, and Bay of Plenty Council-owned Quayside Holding - the majority shareholder in the Port of Tauranga.

And new investor Anna Mowbray is part of the billionaire Mowbray clan that owns toy giant Zuru, along with new businesses in areas from cosmetics to pet food. The Mowbrays' pandemic shipping challenges have been such that the siblings are considering their own shipping line for their new eco-friendly housing venture.

The Series A round was over-subscribed by $3m and including seed capital the company has raised $22m which meant did not need to raise more money through an IPO.

Founded in 2018 TradeWindow provides chain participants with the digital tools needed to be faster, more flexible, more accurate, more resilient, and more efficient.

The global trade in goods was worth US$18.9 trillion in 2019 and supply chain costs are though to represent up to 20 per cent of that.

But software offered by TradeWindow could reduce trade costs by 14.3 per cent and boost global trade by up to US$1 trillion a year, the company said today.

TradeWindow's customers include Synlait, Open Country Dairy, Greenlea Premier Meats, ANZCO, Silver Fern Farms, T&G Global, Sealord, Independent Fisheries, Cedenco Foods, Whittakers, Pan Pac Forest Products, Wallace International, Airwave Australia, Hanes, and UB Freight.

MacLeod said the company was looking forward to introducing TradeWindown to a wider pool of investors through the NZX and providing a pathway for them to get involved in the wider Australasian export sector at a time when trade was so critical for the ongoing economic recovery.