What seedtrace does

seedtrace was a Berlin-based B2B SaaS company that operated a digital platform for managing, proving, and communicating sustainability and supply chain information, with a specific focus on tracing payment flows and value distribution in food supply chains. Its core product was a supply chain transparency platform that traced food products from seed to shelf and enabled verification of direct payments to farmers, making value distribution across supply chains more visible and accountable. The company's proprietary technology centered on a payment tracing system, applied first and most prominently in a project with cocoa processor Koa in Ghana that verified direct payments to thousands of cocoa farmers.

The business served food and agricultural supply chain companies as its primary vertical, addressing pain points around lack of transparency, inability to verify fair payment flows to farmers, and limited visibility into value distribution. seedtrace raised approximately $2.85M across two disclosed funding rounds ($670,588 from Futury Capital in May 2021 and $2,176,499 from Alpha Ventures, Futury Capital, and Twip Impact Ventures in July 2023), and operated with 11–50 employees headquartered in Berlin. No pricing model or revenue figures were publicly disclosed, and the company had a small, concentrated enterprise customer base anchored by the Koa cocoa project.

In June 2026, seedtrace officially ceased independent operations after seven years, transferring its software technology to food company KoRo. Koa subsequently became a supplier to KoRo, and both companies intend to continue using the tracing software together, with the founders expressing a long-term aspiration for the system to evolve into shared open-source infrastructure for the broader food supply chain ecosystem.

Name

seedtrace

Legal name

seedtrace

Website

https://seedtrace.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Closed

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

seedtrace was a Berlin-based SaaS platform that traced food supply chains from seed to shelf, verifying direct payments to farmers and making value distribution visible. It served food and agricultural supply chains, ceased independent operations in June 2026, and transferred its technology to KoRo.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Core offering

seedtrace developed and operated a digital SaaS platform that managed, proved, and communicated sustainability and supply chain information for food and agricultural supply chains. The platform specifically traced payment flows and value distribution across supply chains, enabling verification of direct payments to farmers (e.g., thousands of cocoa farmers in Ghana via Koa). The company ceased operations in June 2026 and transferred the software to KoRo.

Product overview

Seedtrace was a single, unified supply chain transparency platform that traced food products from seed to shelf. The platform enabled verification of direct payments to farmers and made payment flows and value distribution more responsible and visible. The company ceased operations in June 2026, with its technology transferred to KoRo, including its payment tracing project with supplier Koa in Ghana.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Seedtrace Supply Chain Tracing Platform A supply chain transparency platform that traces food products from seed to shelf and enables verification of direct payments to farmers across food and agricultural supply chains. It is used by food and agricultural companies seeking to make payment flows and value distribution more responsible and visible.

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• KoRocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2026seedtrace transferred its software technology to KoRo, including the payment tracing project with Koa in Ghana. KoRo is a food company that will continue using the software to make payment flows and value distribution more responsible and visible. Both companies intend to keep using the software together. The long-term vision is for the system to become shared open-source infrastructure collaboratively developed by a broader ecosystem.
• KoacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKoa in Ghana was seedtrace's first major tracing project partner. The project verified direct payments to thousands of cocoa farmers. Koa is now a supplier to KoRo and both companies intend to continue using the tracing software together.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Emerging players

• BanQu: BanQu is a supply chain blockchain platform focused on economic identity and verified payment records for farmers and workers in developing regions. It is an emerging peer with a particularly close overlap to seedtrace's payment-flow verification and smallholder farmer use case.
• Fairfood: Fairfood is a Dutch-based tech venture building blockchain-based supply chain transparency tools aimed at fair payments to producers. It is an emerging player closely comparable to seedtrace's mission and smallholder-payment focus, though operating primarily in the Netherlands and adjacent markets.
• ChainPoint (by Blocksize): ChainPoint offers supply chain traceability and product authentication SaaS, including provenance tracking for food and consumer goods. It is an emerging peer with overlapping functionality to seedtrace's traceability platform, though with a different go-to-market focus.

Direct peers

• Sourcemap: Sourcemap is a supply chain transparency and traceability SaaS platform used by enterprises to map, monitor, and audit multi-tier suppliers. It is directly comparable to seedtrace as a software-led traceability vendor, though it focuses more on supply chain mapping than seedtrace's payment-flow verification angle.
• OpenSC (by BCG and World Wide Fund for Nature): OpenSC is a supply chain traceability platform built around verifiable, sustainability-linked supply chain data for food and other commodities. It is comparable to seedtrace in targeting responsible supply chains and farmer-level visibility, though it is supported by BCG/WWF rather than independent VC funding.
• TraceX Technologies: TraceX is a blockchain-based food and agriculture supply chain traceability platform serving enterprises and cooperatives. It overlaps with seedtrace in farmer-level traceability and ESG reporting, particularly in agriculture.
• Provenance: Provenance is a SaaS platform that helps brands prove sustainability and social impact claims across supply chains using blockchain-anchored data. It is a direct peer to seedtrace in the food and consumer goods traceability space, with overlapping customer pain points around transparency and accountability.
• FoodLogiQ (by traceabilityIQ): FoodLogiQ provides SaaS for food safety, traceability, and supplier management across the food supply chain. It is comparable to seedtrace as a B2B SaaS vendor selling traceability and accountability to food brands and their suppliers.

Broad incumbents

• SAP (Responsible Supply Chain / GRC): SAP offers broad enterprise supply chain, sustainability, and governance solutions including supply chain traceability and supplier risk modules. It is a broad incumbent competing in the same buyer accounts seedtrace targets, though traceability is one feature among many.
• IBM Food Trust: IBM Food Trust is an enterprise blockchain-based food traceability network operated by IBM. It is comparable as a broad incumbent operating in the same food supply chain transparency category as seedtrace, but with far greater scale and a broader feature set.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/seedtrace

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about seedtrace