Blockchain startup TradeIX has raised $16 million in a Series A round led by ING Ventures, the venture capital arm of ING Bank.

Other investors in the round include Norwegian investment company Kistefos, BNP Paribas, and Tech Mahindra. Kistefos was a prior investor in TradeIX and increased its stake as part of the transaction.

Founded in 2016, TradeIX is a UK-based API and blockchain powered company. In June 2017, it launched TIX Platform, the first open blockchain-powered platform ‘TIX’ for trade finance. More recently, it launched the world’s first blockchain-enabled trade finance transaction for global logistics company DHL. TradeIX is also leading the Marco Polo initiative alongside R3.

“TradeIX offers a great solution for trade finance that truly enables clients to become more efficient and transparent. TradeIX operates via an open platform and ‘open’ is what ING thinks the future of financial services is going to be. On top of that, we see a lot of opportunity in distributed ledger technology, so we’re happy to announce we are now intensifying our cooperation with TradeIX,” Mark Buitenhek, Head of Transaction Services of ING highlighted.

TradeIX said that it will use the funding to boost hiring, further accelerate customer acquisition and to invest in the development of the company’s open platform for trade finance.

“This round is a significant stepping stone for us. We are very excited to bring in ING Ventures, BNP Paribas, Tech Mahindra as new investors, and to continue our partnership with Kistefos. After having proven our technology with DHL and multiple banks, the investment will help us to further develop our open platform,” TradeIX CEO and Founder Rob Barnes said.