Tensec, a fintech startup founded by former executives from Rapyd, Meta, and Goldman Sachs, has closed a $12 million seed round, led by Costanoa Ventures, with participation from Quiet Capital, WillowTree Investments, Cambrian VC, Ignia Partners, Montage Ventures, Renegade Partners, and Endeavor Scale Up Ventures. This fresh funding will power Tensec’s mission to modernize global trade finance and unlock smoother cross-border payments for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs).

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Solving a $190 Trillion Problem

Cross-border trade, a $190 trillion global market, has historically relied on outdated and slow infrastructure, from SWIFT wire transfers to manual FX handling. Tensec aims to replace these legacy systems with a real-time, no-code payments and treasury platform built specifically for SMBs and the partners that serve them.

Tensec’s solution allows businesses to embed foreign exchange, transaction banking, and compliance tools into their existing workflows without requiring massive engineering efforts. Rather than forcing clients to overhaul their systems or adopt an entirely new banking relationship, Tensec acts as an invisible layer - modernizing trade finance from within.

Already, Tensec supports clients handling $10 billion in annual trade volume, with projections to triple this as it expands into APAC and European markets.

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How Tensec Embeds Instead of Replaces

Unlike many fintech startups that focus on direct-to-SMB products, Tensec takes a different path: it integrates as an embedded financial infrastructure partner within existing trade ecosystems - including logistics providers, global trade platforms, and treasury management software.

Here’s where the strategic genius shines through. Most startups make the mistake of building a standalone product and then spending huge budgets educating the market, trying to convince users to switch. Tensec instead attaches its value proposition directly to processes and systems that SMBs already know and trust.

This approach not only reduces resistance but also accelerates adoption because it respects existing business habits. For founders, this is an ultra-valuable lesson: the fastest way to growth isn’t always creating entirely new user behavior - it’s about aligning deeply with what’s already working and becoming indispensable from the inside.

When you embed rather than replace, your product’s stickiness increases exponentially. You position your company as infrastructure rather than as an optional tool, creating lock-in through real operational reliance rather than surface-level features. This shift transforms your customer relationships from transactional to foundational, making churn almost unthinkable.

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Beyond Payments: Treasury and Compliance at Scale

While payments are at the core of Tensec’s offering, the platform also provides advanced treasury and compliance tools tailored for modern global trade. Businesses can handle multi-currency accounts, automate FX hedging, and navigate complex regulatory requirements - all from a single, intuitive dashboard.

For example, one Mexico-based logistics client processed $700 million in trade volume using Tensec, moving nearly $4 million in foreign exchange transactions in just six weeks. This kind of efficiency was previously only accessible to large corporations with big finance teams and deep banking relationships.

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Where the $12 Million Seed Will Go

Tensec plans to use its new capital to:

• Expand globally, focusing on APAC and EU markets, where SMB trade is rapidly growing.
  
• Accelerate product development, including AI-powered compliance checks and even smarter FX capabilities.
  
• Scale operations, with headquarters in San Francisco and offices in New York, Mexico City, and São Paulo.
  

The leadership team - Helcio Nobre (CEO), Sandrine Cousquer-Okasmaa (COO), and Yang Wang (VP Engineering) - has deep experience scaling complex financial infrastructure. Their previous roles at Bond, Rapyd, and other major fintech leaders make them uniquely suited to tackle this challenge.

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Investors Double Down on Embedded Finance

Costanoa Ventures partner Amy Cheetham, who led the round, described Tensec as "a new backbone for global SMB trade finance," highlighting the shift from fragmented, manual systems to seamless embedded financial flows.

As demand for cross-border commerce explodes, traditional banking rails are struggling to keep up - and SMBs, in particular, have been left behind. Tensec’s model allows them to compete on a global scale without the overhead and complexity that usually come with international transactions.

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Final Thoughts

Tensec’s $12 million seed round isn’t merely a financing headline - it’s a signal that the future of global trade finance is moving toward invisible, embedded, and intelligent infrastructure. By embedding rather than replacing, Tensec sidesteps the biggest friction points and positions itself as the quiet engine behind a massive market shift.

For founders, the lesson is crystal clear: your fastest growth path may not lie in bold disruption for its own sake but in deeply understanding workflows and becoming part of them so seamlessly that your solution feels inevitable. When your product is part of your customers' core operations rather than an optional tool, your business transforms from vendor to vital partner - and that's where true, durable growth lives.