New Hectare Advance Pay product tackles complex puzzle of last mile trade finance for farming community

Hectare, a provider of agricultural technology supply chain solutions, has announced the launch of Advance Pay, a new embedded finance product that, according to a press release, “gives arable farmers access to instant cash flow from their grain contracts at a fair market interest rate”.

This aims to solve the challenges of financing last mile grain supply chains, with Hectare laying claim to being the first to market to offer an independent solution without the heavy costs or administration headaches of traditional finance, lock-in contracts for grain pools, or input financing.

With Advance Pay on grain trades, farmers receive instant payment for up to 80% of the contract's value.

Hectare sees the embedded finance offering as the sweet spot where digital workflows and digital finance go hand in hand.

Now, farmers can receive an advance payment on a grain contract while closing a deal with a buyer, all in one transaction using its digital trading tools.

There are no costs associated with using Hectare's crop trading tools, and farmers pay what is labelled as “fair market interest” when choosing Advance Pay against a grain contract.

Vanessa Lenssen, Chief Product and Growth Officer at Hectare, says: “Hectare was created by farmers, for farmers. We wanted to solve the complex puzzle of last mile trade finance for our farming community.”

“We faced sceptics, but we felt that just maybe we could do something special and today, we're proud to break new ground and support our customers in building sustainable financial success for their farming businesses every day.”

Funding round

Last year, Hectare raised $20 million in Series A funding.

The round was led by existing and private investors.

The investment is being used to support Hectare’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) inventory, trading, logistics and market insights product development, and expansion into new international markets.