Investor FAQ
Common questions from investors about Skyocean’s model, risk management, and value proposition.
Ready to learn more?
- Investment Deck: skyocean.io/commercial-pitch-deck
- Book a call: Calendly
- Platform demo: edge.skyocean.io
About Skyocean
What is Skyocean?
Skyocean is an international commodity trading company with over 15 years of experience and presence across multiple countries. We take principal positions in emerging market corridors that conventional trade finance declines. We buy the commodity, hold legal title until we are paid, and carry the operational risk ourselves. Because title stays with us, a buyer default is a resale rather than a write-off.
Every trade is recorded on verifiable data infrastructure built on the OriginTrail decentralised knowledge graph (DKG). Documents, checks and attestations are published as Knowledge Assets carrying a cryptographic hash, so a counterparty or an auditor can re-run the same verification and reach the same result.
What is Skyocean’s mission?
Our mission is twofold:
- Finance the trade the conventional system declines, taking principal positions in corridors that banks and traditional providers will not serve
- Provide fair entry to the trading business for smaller merchants in developing and emerging markets
The Problem We Solve
What problem does Skyocean address?
The export trading and commodities industry faces several systemic issues:
- Corporate dominance: The industry is concentrated among large corporations, making it difficult for smaller participants to compete
- High barriers to entry: Traditional trade finance requires $100K+ minimums and industry connections
- Obsolete banking system: Biased and outdated systems prevent small merchants from competing
- Lack of trust and accessibility: Limited transparency makes global trade inaccessible to most
Risk Mitigation
How do you mitigate non-payment risk in emerging markets?
We employ multiple layers of protection:
| Risk Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Self-consigned commodities | Skyocean retains title to goods until payment is received |
| Pre-payment requirements | Required for hard-to-resell or specialty commodities |
| First entry-level merchants | We work with new merchants on smaller initial transactions |
| NGO-vetted SMEs | Partner merchants are sourced and vetted through trusted NGO networks |
| Verifiable audit record | Each step of a trade is recorded as a Knowledge Asset with a cryptographic hash, so document sets are checked deterministically rather than taken on trust |
| Commodity selection | Focus on high-demand, globally tradeable goods (grains, sugar, pulses, edible oils, dairy, meats) |
Why self-consignment?
By keeping commodities self-consigned until payment, Skyocean maintains ownership and control. If a buyer defaults, we retain the goods and can redirect them to another buyer. The default becomes a resale rather than a write-off, which removes the most common loss event in emerging market trade.
How Trades Are Financed
What are the capital tracks?
Skyocean’s current business is institutional: principal commodity trading, asset-backed trade finance, and wholesale arrangements with licensed firms. Capital reaches the trade book through four tracks:
- Pre-seed equity, a single pool of working capital deployed into the revolving trade book
- Trade finance, sized on the cost basis of the goods and never on the sale price
- A wholesale yield engine for licensed managers
- Yield provider partnerships with licensed securities firms
Tracks 3 and 4 are wholesale only. They are available to licensed intermediaries only, with no retail distribution and no public solicitation.
What makes Skyocean self-sustainable?
Skyocean is backed by real trading activity. Revenue comes from actual commodity transactions, the purchase and sale of tangible products, so trading margin funds operations rather than any form of speculation.
How is equity capital used, and what does that mean for runway?
Equity is a single pool of working capital deployed into a revolving trade book. Trading margin funds operations. The principal itself is not consumed: it returns at the end of each cycle and is redeployed into the next one, so runway is a function of trade performance rather than a countdown against a fixed burn.
Investors should price the other side of that coupling as well. If the trade book stalls, cycles slow, or margin compresses, runway shortens with it.
How will the current raise be used?
- Corridor expansion and trading activity
- Merchant onboarding and support
- Marketing and partnerships
- Legal and regulatory compliance
- Platform development
Retail Participation (Planned, Phase 2)
Is retail participation open?
No. Trade finance has historically been closed to individuals: minimums of $100,000 or more, industry connections, and no route in for smaller participants. The planned Phase 2 retail participation layer is an intention to address that. It is not a current offering, no mechanics or timing are defined, and nothing here is an invitation to participate. Institutional trade finance and wholesale arrangements with licensed firms are the current channels.
Verifiable Data Infrastructure
Why record trades on a decentralised knowledge graph?
- Deterministic verification: every document and check carries a cryptographic hash, so the same verification re-run by a third party returns the same result
- Independent attestation: counterparties, inspectors and partners can cryptographically sign statements about a trade, and those attestations sit alongside the trade record
- Traceability: each step is published in the public knowledge graph as a Knowledge Asset rather than held only in a private system
- Audit record: a timestamped record that can be reviewed after the fact without relying on the trader’s own bookkeeping
- Simplified reporting: verification artefacts can be handed to a counterparty or an auditor directly
Can any of this be checked independently?
Yes. Skyocean publishes a reference audit, SIM-003, covering a EUR 3.2 million corridor. It runs 131 checks across 15 axes, of which 130 passed with 1 disclosed discrepancy, for a verification strength of 0.95. The corridor record comprises 44 Knowledge Assets and 20 attestations from 8 independent attestors.
Status and Stage
What is the current status?
- Stage: production grade, with roughly 120 validated capabilities across 11 domains. Skyocean is not pre-revenue, not an MVP and not a prototype
- Trading: commercial trades have been executed and settled. Individual trades are not published, because counterparty identity, pricing and margins are commercially confidential
- Funding phase: pre-seed round (active)
- Active trade corridors: Sudan, under a three year MOU with the Investment Encouragement Commission of the Republic of Sudan signed 2 April 2026, and Ghana, an operational SME pilot. Origins: Latin America (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay) and Europe / EU-periphery (Poland, Bulgaria, Turkey)
- Corporate: Skyocean Paraguay S.A. incorporated 2022. Accepted into the Lithuanian Startup Visa programme
- SME partners: sourced through trusted local networks and NGO partners
- Platform: live at edge.skyocean.io
Has the technology been independently assessed?
An independent assessment of Skyocean’s intellectual property, codebase and audit architecture placed it in the range of USD 12 to 18 million. That figure is an assessment of the intellectual property, not a valuation of the company.
How will merchants be onboarded?
We use existing vendor networks and incentivize adoption through:
- Trade discounts (buy and sell agreements)
- Onboarding training and support
- Targeted marketing programs
Regulatory and Compliance
Is Skyocean compliant with regulations?
Yes. We are committed to full regulatory compliance:
- Trading company, not a lender: we buy and sell physical commodities as principal
- Wholesale only where applicable: the wholesale yield engine and the yield provider partnerships are open to licensed intermediaries only, with no retail distribution and no public solicitation
- Regulatory scrutiny: subject to and fulfilling applicable requirements
- Independent audits: periodic financial audits for transparency
- KYC/AML: integration where applicable
Is anything being offered on this site?
No. Nothing in this documentation is an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security or other instrument. The wholesale tracks are arrangements with licensed intermediaries and are not publicly solicited.
Team and Experience
What is the team’s background?
- Trading experience: 15+ years in export trading with international presence
- Engineering: developers building and maintaining the verifiable data infrastructure, in partnership with leading institutions
- Advisory: industry experts providing strategic guidance
Getting Started
Ready to talk?
- View the Investment Deck: skyocean.io/commercial-pitch-deck
- Book a call: Calendly
- Contact: investors@skyocean.io
- Platform demo: edge.skyocean.io
This information is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Skyocean intends to operate in full compliance with applicable regulations.