Singapore-based Fintech-powered Fund management firm TradeFlow Capital Management (TradeFlow) and Abu Dhabi based digital trader Open Mineral have joined forces, launching the 'Critical Minerals Trade Finance Fund' and a new TradeFlow Metals platform to help address urgent global energy transition needs. Open Mineral will be a Founding Client, providing a multi-year commitment to this collaboration that will connect new and existing trade finance investors and banks with digitally de-risked transactions of global critical minerals flows including copper, lithium and zinc.

The "Critical Minerals Trade Flow Fund" and TradeFlow Metals digital platform were launched at the recent Abu Dhabi Finance Week 2023.

Dr. Tom James, CEO and co-founder of TradeFlow, highlights: "Open Mineral brings a remarkable team of metals trading experts who possess a strong digital DNA aligned with ours. We are excited to see the establishment of two new entities today, aimed at fostering the growth of the commodities trading industry in the UAE. The first entity is the 'Critical Minerals Trade Flow Fund', managed by TradeFlow.

The second entity is the 'TradeFlow Metals platform', which will operate as an independent and fully separated entity. This platform will leverage the skills and expertise of TradeFlow's technology provider and long-term partner, Liberatech Plus, which has already assisted in the processing of over 3,000 trades and USD3 billion in cross-commodity cargoes since 2018.

This is a great opportunity to participate with our partners to bring the advantages of FinTech and liquidity to the transition metals market with our digitalised solutions. This is a great success for all involved and the transition metals and energy markets as a whole."

James Rilett, Chief Product Officer of Open Mineral affirms: "We are honoured and proud to be the Founding Client of the Critical Minerals Trade Flow Fund. In partnership with TradeFlow, we are committed to bringing proven Risk Transformation methodology and technology to the critical minerals sector. Open Mineral has one of the fastest growing critical minerals books in the world and we see no shortage of opportunity to trade more of these flows, but our industry needs capital. Since incorporating in Abu Dhabi Global Market in 2022, we have profitably traded over $500mn of metals."

Mr. Rilett further explains: "This is a crucial phase in the transition of the regional economies, and we want to de-risk and capture opportunities at scale. Commodities as an asset class has a high risk, high complexity reputation, with tech and data changing this risk profile. Our strategic role in enabling global trade finance to meet these new opportunities serves to enhance and catalyse the regional economies. To be combining this game-changing trade finance platform with Open Mineral's trade book and metals know-how was an unmissable opportunity."

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the market for energy transition metals was USD320bn in 2022, which based on Open Mineral assessment will treble in the next 10 years. This collaboration with TradeFlow shall be an effective means of addressing critical metals demand.