Xalts founders Supreet Kaur (L) and Ashutosh Goel
Xalts, a Singapore-based fintech platform for financial institutions and businesses to build and manage digital finance applications, has acquired Contour Network, which connects global banks with global businesses.
The transaction details remain undisclosed.
The initial focus for Xalts will be embedded solutions for trade and supply chain finance. These will enable banks, logistics companies and technology companies to offer integrated solutions to businesses using a single platform.
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Contour was started in 2017 as a pilot by eight global banks, including HSBC, Standard Chartered and BNP, focusing on digitising trade. Over 22 banks, including HSBC, BNP, Citi, DBS, and ING, and 100 international businesses like Tata Group and Rio Tinto, use Contour for digital trade finance solutions.
Xalts was founded in 2022 by Ashutosh Goel and Supreet Kaur, former senior executives at HSBC and Meta. Backed by Accel Partners and Citi Ventures, Xalts is used by institutions to build multi-party applications for digitisation and tokenisation.
Currently, with a team of over 50 across offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, India, the UAE and the UK, Xalts counts large financial institutions, regulatory bodies and technology companies as its clients.
The startup plans to leverage Contour’s workflows and integrations to facilitate communication and transactions between businesses and financial institutions in the network.
Ashutosh Goel, CEO of Xalts, said: “We want to create a Plaid for Trade. Our vision is to expand the scope of Contour’s network which is trusted by banks and corporates and build it into a rail that enables businesses to access digital solutions for trade and supply chain finance offered by banks, fintechs and technology partners. Combining our platform with Contour’s Network will allow participants to develop and deploy customised solutions quickly”.
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“Our platform also enables institutions to build new innovative applications and products by leveraging blockchain and tokenisation. We partner with leading blockchains and integrate with multiple infrastructure providers to help our clients build tokenisation applications,” said Supreet Kaur, COO of Xalts. “Contour will also enable network members to work with us to launch applications in this space”.
In 2023, global trade reached over US$30 trillion. However, according to QED Investors, the digitisation of global trade remains relatively minuscule, with less than 1 per cent currently conducted digitally. Due to the complexities and regulations involved in cross-border trade, a single transaction may require up to 50 sheets of paper that are exchanged with up to 30 stakeholders, including importers, exporters, banks, logistics companies and customs.
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