Pitch for Purpose Winner Fantine to Turn Supply Chain into Blockchain

Chain of custody for commodities is a major headache. For everything from timber to palm oil, from coffee beans to cobalt – tracing the source of the ingredients that fuel modern life is notoriously difficult.

In part that is because of how commodities are traded. They are bought and sold in massive quantities on the open market, by traders on exchanges as far away from the product’s source as it is possible to get. Like any futures, they can be subject to wild swings in price and coffee beans are no exception to this.

Coffee farmers in some of the least developed markets in the world deal with price volatility that can leave them out of pocket. And there is almost no relationship at all between the cost of the beans a coffee farmer sells and the latte you buy on the way to work in the morning!

Step forward Fantine, a Colombian startup that removes the middlemen and speculators and connects farmers directly with roasters and buyers, allowing farmers greater autonomy and the ability to set realistic prices related to the real cost of production. Fantine’s blockchain-based marketplace offers a new pricing index that is fair, open, and auditable through data stored in the blockchain ledger.

Fantine just won the Founder Institute x 4YFN Pitch for Purpose competition and will pitch on stage at one of 4YFN’s international events! Founder Laura Amado wowed the judges with a revolutionary idea that promises to empower farmers. We are delighted to welcome Fantine to our amazing coterie of gamechanging startups.

Congratulations to Laura and a big thanks to the Founder Institute. Together we can change the world!