Pan-African startup Agridex has developed a neobank product that provides financial infrastructure for cross-border commodity trade, enabling businesses to move money quickly, manage liquidity, and link payments directly to underlying transactions.
Founded in 2023 by Zimbabwean-British entrepreneur Henry Duckworth, Agridex is building a digital marketplace to be a one-stop-shop for all a producer’s needs, whether booking logistics, paying vendors or accessing credit.
After beginning his career as the youngest trader at Trafigura, Duckworth spent a decade working across Africa, gaining first-hand insight into the challenges of trade finance and settlements in emerging markets.
This led to him launching Agridex, which has developed a neobank product called LOAM, which provides financial infrastructure for cross-border commodity trade, enabling businesses to move money quickly, manage liquidity, and link payments directly to underlying transactions.
“Our payments and treasury platform streamlines settlement across multiple currencies and counterparties, reducing operational friction and improving cash visibility for agricultural producers and SMEs,” Duckworth said.
“The infrastructure is designed to handle the speed and complexity of commodity flows, from supplier and logistics payments to multi-party trade settlements. By embedding financing workflows directly into its payment and treasury rails, Agridex allows lenders and traders to deploy and recycle capital more efficiently across global commodity value chains.”
Having grown up in a farming community in Zimbabwe and worked extensively across Africa, Duckworth witnessed the inefficiencies of outdated banking systems in developing markets, characterised by prolonged delays and prohibitive transaction costs. He identified a significant opportunity to build a modern, accessible payments and treasury service designed for those excluded from traditional financial infrastructure.
“Unlike purely crypto-native payment rails or traditional banks, Agridex positions itself in the middle ground, bridging regulated finance with blockchain efficiencies,” Duckworth said.
Agridex is steadily gathering momentum, with sales representatives now active in over a dozen countries.
“Transaction volumes and client onboarding have increased month after month, especially among agricultural exporters and payment facilitators seeking faster multi-currency settlements,” said Duckworth.
The startup raised a seed round of funding in December 2024 at a post-money valuation of US$27.5 million, and has also secured strategic partnerships with regional payment networks and commodity exporters, validating the scalability of its infrastructure across multiple jurisdictions.
The company currently operates in Africa, Europe and Asia, with ongoing expansion efforts throughout specific African corridors where exporters want to meet European and Asian buyers.
“Future plans include establishing regulatory footholds in additional emerging markets and integrating with local banking partners to enhance payout coverage and compliance readiness,” said Duckworth.
Revenue primarily comes from transaction fees on cross-border payments, treasury management services, and liquidity provisioning.
“Additional revenue streams are expected from white-labelled infrastructure partnerships and API-based treasury integrations. While still in early stages, growth in transaction volumes indicates strong commercial traction,” said Duckworth.
