Troc Circle

Globally, merchants are having a very hard time to access low cost & fast bridge financing solutions to payout their suppliers on time and keep their business going.

So merchants are currently seeking expensive and out of reach short term liquidity alternatives such as credit lines, accounts receivable financing or working capital loans.

At the same time, these merchants are suffering from high costs of accounts receivable and payable management due to the “must have” financial services additional costs. Such as the payment facilitators’ fees and currency exchange fees to name a few. 

The “Must have” financial services are eating up important chunks of the merchants’ margins. Margins that are already squeezed to the minimum.

These cumulative problems have a gridlock effect on the economy. It is estimated that 40% of the small to medium sized businesses are currently suffering from cash flow problems, putting workers and their families all over the world at great risks.

Troc Circle is proud to help every disadvantaged merchant solve this gridlock problem.

Troc Circle is building an open netting platform that allows all merchants to pay and get paid simultaneously by offsetting their accounts receivable and accounts payable instantly in a fair & transparent manner, cost-effective way and without having to move money around.

Troc Circle helps every merchant thrive by freeing up important capitals stuck in the current inefficient receivable and payable supply chain while drastically reducing the merchant’s receivable & payable management costs.

Troc Circle aims to create an inclusive business world where every work is paid on time through netting.

An estimated $14T of capital is stuck in todays inefficient global accounts receivable/payable supply chain.

Merchants are not able to access affordable & fast bridge financing solutions to payout their accounts payable on time. That is why merchants are seeking expensive short-term liquidity solutions such as AR financing, invoice factoring and credit lines. The existing common short term financing solutions are systematically increasing business debts and often lead small & disadvantaged businesses to shut down.

At the same time these disadvantaged merchants are losing important chunks of their revenues to the "must have" financial services such as: payment facilitator fees, currency exchange fees and AR / AP processing fees.

All the unfair problems above are increasing the merchants’ financial risks and putting the most vulnerable ones out of business.

Troc Circle is building an open netting platform.

In short NETTING is the act of offsetting an account receivable with an account payable without having to move money. And OPEN is to maximize the netting options to the maximum number of compliant merchants in a fair and transparent manner.

Troc Circle innovation rely on two complementary technologies: 

circular and chain netting algorithms. 

Both algorithms are based on strait forward mathematical formulas that would simplify the complex payment network into lower amounts of simple one to one payments removing the gridlock problem.

Circular Netting searches for invoices forming a circle and proposes netting deals to the multiple merchants in the circle, allowing them to offset the common amount between all invoices and hence pay their dues without moving money. 

Chain Netting searches for invoices forming a chain and proposes netting deals to the multiple merchants in the chain, allowing them to offset the common amount between all invoices and pay their dues without moving money. Except for the 1st payer in the payment chain (The trader in below example).

In the chain netting process each merchant form a single node in the payment chain. Troc Circle would turn the payment chain into a circle by collecting the payment from the first node in the chain (the 1st payer) and paying out to the last node in the chain. 

The first node in the chain (the 1st payer) is incentivized to pay through Troc Circle by obtaining a discount on his due payment.

To implement Troc Circle’s open netting solution in the market, Troc Circle is developing API connection to the major ERP systems in the market. All ERP systems would be connected through Troc Circle in a synchronized manner. Also Troc Circle is working to offer an open API to the public, hence every accounting system would be able to connect smoothly to Troc Circle.

Every disadvantaged merchant that wished that his uncollected receivable would cancel his due payable automatically without the hassle of waiting to get paid in order to payout.

Troc Circle is a solution for merchants who currently have a poor credit worthiness and have trouble accessing fair, transparent and affordable bridge financing solutions. At the same time a solution to medium sized merchants that have a low profit margin and want to lower on their accounts receivable and payable costs. Also a solution to larger sized merchants that want to optimize their working capital and liberate important funds.

Troc Circle’s open netting platform solution reduces the volume of debt among all users in a systematic way reducing financial risks.

Troc Circle is a powerful inclusive financial digital tool that allow every merchant regardless of his business volume, business location and credit worthiness to be actively connected to the global economy.

Troc Circle reduces the need for credit lines while giving a smooth access to commerce for all.

Troc Circle requires minimal infrastructure since it is easily accessible through mobile and web interfaces.

Troc Circle do not impose neither a minimum nor a maximum netting amount; netting deals can vary from a few dollars to big amounts.

Also Troc Circle do not charge a monthly fee nor a subscription fee. With Troc Circle users would pay a small percentage of the accepted and processed netting deals varying from 0.1% to a maximum of 1%. Which would make Troc Circle highly competitive.

Troc Circle has released its MVP mobile & web interfaces  to the public covering the circular netting solution for now, and has also completed a proof of concept with BASF Intertrade AG proving its solution market fit covering both circular and chain netting solutions. 

Troc Circle successfully connected to Microsoft Dynamics ERP system and was able to extract the receivable and payable invoice data, search for circular and chain netting deals and process the accepted netting deals  back to the ERP system.

Troc Circle is continuously working on the development of it's product and is actively seeking to conduct more proof of concepts with firms that have a large network of small to medium sized businesses as clients & suppliers. 

Troc Circle is revolutionizing and innovating netting ‘‘a financial tool that has been mainly used between banks for a long time ’’, a tool that was never offered to the public in an OPEN manner.

Troc Circle efforts to solve the problem in a unique way by mainly focusing on the work rather than the money. Of course it’s a bit theoretical, but if we can solve the work compensation problem through bartering and at the same time reduce the need of money then the problem is simpler to solve since we don’t need huge funds anymore to keep the economy flowing.

The cost of moving money is very high while the essence of a business survival is work. In a theoretical way we can say that Troc Circle is going back to the roots of the economy, the time when the economy was mainly based on the bartering of goods and services. 

Current stage: Troc Circle conducted only a single POC to this date with BASF Intertrade AG, In case that the POC results are approved by BASF and the Troc Circle project goes live Troc Circle would have the ability to reach out to BASF large network of clients and suppliers estimated at > 70’000 Different businesses across the world. Taking as an average 20 people directly affected per SMB on-boarded and a 50% success rate, Troc Circle would have the potential to serve 700’000 people across the world.

In one year: Troc Circle is currently conducting a series of deal flows with financial institutions and corporates to offer it’s solution and reach out to their network of SMB clients and suppliers. In Troc Circle current pipeline: US Bank headquartered in the USA, UBS headquartered in Switzerland, Arab Bank headquartered in Switzerland, BillDesk headquartered in India & EY India Office. Through these potential collaborations Troc Circle aims to complete at least 3 POCs in a year and reach > 100’000 SMBs. Taking as an average 20 people directly affected per SMB on-boarded and a 50% success rate, Troc Circle would have the potential to serve 1’000’000 people across the world.

In 5 years: Troc Circle aims to collaborate with > 120 large institutions and reach out to their network of SMBs across the world. Troc Circle aims by then to onboard > 1'000’000 of SMB across the world. Taking as an average 20 people directly affected per SMB on-boarded and a 50% success rate, Troc Circle would have the potential to serve 10’000’000 people across the world.

Troc Circle team is constantly setting long term OKR’s and short term KPI’s that measure the progress of the team.

As a team we set 5 verticals for the OKR’s that would help Troc Circle execute its ultimate vision and impact goals.  The 5 verticals being:

• Product Development
• Team Building
• Branding and marketing
• Sales & Customer Success Management
• Fundraising

Moreover the team measures progress by analyzing the short term KPI’s results and aligning them with the ultimate OKR’s in a continuous manner.

https://troccircle.com/team

In total, Troc Circle team has reached 10 members to date:

Full time team members: 5 , including founding team.

Part time team members: 5

Troc Circle team groups complementary talents and diverse skills that would lead to successfully build the open netting platform:

The executive team is composed of:

Fares Hobeiche - Co-Founder CEO

After graduating from EPFL with a masters in civil engineering, Fares worked for 9 years in structural design and real estate project management. He founded Troc Circle after manually netting out invoices for his work.

Youmna Hobeiche - Co-Founder CGO

After completing her Masters in Management at SDA Bocconi, Youmna took over C-level managerial positions for 7 years and excelled in networking and closing sales deals.

Dr. Martin Schultz – CPO

After 6 years as a manager at PwC (Process Audits and Data Analytics), Martin went on to complete his PhD in Business Informatics (Process Mining & Compliance in ERP systems), researching and lecturing. 

Rudy Banholzer – CCO

After completing his MBA at IE Business School, Rudy co-founded, grew and sold a CX (customer experience) agency to Merkle, a dentsu company and lead his region for Merkle post acquisition.

Dan Ghimpu – Head of development team

After completing his first degree in applied and computing science and a second degree in information technology Dan founded Rocketminds a development agency specialized in Web development, UI implementation, App development, and Automation of processes. 

Troc Circle leadership team is currently pretty diverse, inclusive and equitable. Troc Circle successfully was able to build the current team by being open to learn and benefit from multiple cultural backgrounds and looking to include diversity since the start.

Five strong tools that Troc Circle team adopted since day one to succeed in building the team, attracting talent and increasing efficiency:

• Working on a dynamic equity split model.
• Working remotely is a plus.
• Regular team meetings and experience sharing.
• Each team member sets his own objectives and share it with the rest of the team.
• Setting a problem solving approach rather than an instruction based approach.

Note that Troc Circle current small team of 10 consist of people from 5 different nationalities and working remotely & closely together and the 2 founding team members are a Woman and a Man.  

Troc Circle is in need to build a support network of experts and of influential institutes that would allow Troc Circle to excel.

Troc Circle also looks forward to :

• Join and meet with powerful networks of impact-minded leaders.
• Access to mentorship and strategic advice from experts and MIT networks.
• Gain exposure in the media and conferences.
• Build a trusted support group that offers inspiration and guidance.
• Get an stamp of approval from a renowned global reference such as MIT Solve which would boost Troc Circle’s team confidence and business development growth.

Troc Circle is looking to build an advisory board of business experts which would support Troc Cirlce’s executive team meet their objectives. Experts in developing and scaling new fintech products.

Troc Circle also needs to reach a broader audience of potential investors to reach the investors that believe in Troc Circle’s vision and would participate in the coming investment rounds.

Troc Circle team would like to partner with the right department within MIT Sloan’s faculty that could support Troc Circle grow.

Troc Circle deeply believes in building partnerships with institutes and experts in the field. We are open to meet with interested Solve Members that you might recommend and pitch Troc Circle open netting solution to them.   

Merchants and specifically refugees across the world are suffering from expensive and inaccessible bridge financing options. And have a hard time launching their business due to poor creditworthiness.

That is why refugees that have limited working capitals to kick-start and support their business are finding themselves on the side line of the local economy and have difficulties integrating in the local economy.

Troc Cirlce is building an open netting platform that would allow merchants to pay and get paid simultaneously by offsetting their accounts receivable and payable in a fast, secure, cost-effective way and without needing to move money around.

Troc Cirlce reliefs the need for refugee merchants to rely on bridge financing solutions and allow them to connect to the local economy through the open netting platform that is currently being built.

Troc Circle looks to raise funds to build partnerships with local institutes that have access to refugee programs and offer together the open netting solution

Participating in the Andan Prize would give Troc Circle a boost in exposure and partnerships opportunities that are much needed to reach it’s open netting platform’s vision:

Troc Circle aims to create an inclusive business network where every work is paid on time through netting. 

Many merchants and specifically minority groups’ merchants based in the US and all over the world are suffering from expensive and inaccessible bridge financing options. And have a hard time launching their business due to poor creditworthiness.

That is why merchants that belong to diverse / minority groups have on average lower working capitals to kick-start and support their business on the longer run. These merchants are finding themselves on the side line of the local economy and have more difficulties to succeed in business from no fault of their own.

Troc Cirlce is building an open netting platform that would allow all merchants “regardless of their credit score”  to pay and get paid simultaneously by offsetting their accounts receivable and payable in a fast, secure, cost-effective way and without needing to move money around.

Troc Cirlce reliefs the need for all merchants to rely on bridge financing solutions and allow them to connect to the local economy through the open netting platform that is currently being built.

Troc Circle is actively looking to raise funds to build partnerships with local institutes that have access to the local communities across the US and all over the world to offer together the open netting solution.

Participating in the HP prize would give Troc Circle a boost in exposure and partnerships opportunities that are much needed to reach the open netting platform’s vision: Troc Circle aims to create an inclusive business network where every work is paid on time through netting.

Many women led businesses all over the world are suffering from expensive and inaccessible bridge financing options. And have a harder time launching their business due to a poorer creditworthiness on average.

That is why these women led businesses have lower working capitals to kick-start and support their business on the longer run. These merchants are finding themselves on the side line of the local economy and have more difficulties to succeed in business from no fault of their own.

Troc Cirlce is building an open netting platform that would allow all merchants “regardless of their credit score”  to pay and get paid simultaneously by offsetting their accounts receivable and payable in a fast, secure, cost-effective way and without needing to move money around.

Troc Cirlce reliefs the need for women entrepreneurs to rely on bridge financing solutions and allow them to connect to the local economy through the open netting platform that is currently being built.

Troc Circle is actively looking to raise funds to build partnerships with local institutes that have access to the local communities across the US and all over the world to offer together the open netting solution.

Participating in the Women Prize that is sponsored by the Vodafone Americas Foundation would give Troc Circle a boost in exposure and many partnership opportunities that are much needed to reach the open netting platform’s vision: Troc Circle aims to create an inclusive business network where every work is paid on time through netting.

Business transactions all over the world are currently relying on money flows as the main compensation tool for work.

Troc Cirlce is building an open netting platform that would allow all merchants “regardless of their credit score” to pay and get paid simultaneously by offsetting their accounts receivable and payable without needing to move money around.

Troc Circle technology rely on a well-connected platform to existing ERP and accounting systems to pull the due accounts receivable and payable data and propose and process netting deals in a live manner.

Troc Circle efforts to build an open API which would connect the multiple ERP systems in a synchronized way.

Troc Circle open netting solution would benefit every merchant by lowering his financial risk to the minimum. Through netting the volume of debt among users will converge to the minimum in a systematic way.

Also through Troc Circle merchants would not seek expensive bridge financing solutions such as invoice factoring and working capital loans and simultaneously won’t be incurring expensive payment facilitators’ fees and currency exchange fees.

Participating in the AI for Humanity Prize sponsored by the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation would give Troc Circle a boost in exposure and many partnership opportunities that are much needed to reach the open netting platform’s vision: Troc Circle aims to create an inclusive business network where every work is paid on time through netting.