COGESER

What COGESER does

COGESER is a privately held international brokerage firm headquartered at 31 avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris, founded in 1980 by Gerard Serfati, who remained active in the pulses trade industry from 1969 until his retirement in 2016. The firm specializes in intermediating cross-border trade of pulses and related agro-commodities, including chickpeas, lentils, dry beans, peas, quinoa, rice, wild-rice, groundnuts, popcorn, and red beans. The website describes a service built on continuous gathering, verification, and interpretation of market information across a global counterpart network spanning at least 18 countries in North America, LATAM, Europe, MENA, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania.

The business model is a pure transaction-fee brokerage: COGESER introduces exporters and importers, participates in contract negotiation, issues contracts (all governed by Gafta Trade Rules), and then actively monitors each transaction from shipment through settlement and beyond. There is no proprietary technology platform, no AI/ML tooling, and no digital product surface; the entire offering is delivered by a small specialized team. The public roster lists three professionals - Dutch-educated Henk W. van Leeuwen (broker since 1990), Florent Cattaneo (broker since 2006, International Trade degree 2001), and Hermann Pierre (administrative/back-office since 2007, International Trade degree 2007) - who collectively cover Dutch, French, English, and Italian languages. Operating geographies, customer identity, and fee structure are not publicly disclosed.

COGESER generates revenue solely through brokerage commissions on successfully closed transactions. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and is described as customized per client. The customer base is described at the category level as international exporters and importers of agricultural commodities, with no named logos and no disclosed customer segment splits. Distribution is direct: the firm operates without formal marketing channels or external sales infrastructure, relying on 45+ years of industry relationships and word-of-mouth within the trade. There is no parent company, no subsidiaries, no funding history, no M&A activity, and no patents or formal recognitions beyond the implicit standardization on Gafta contract terms.

Name

COGESER

Legal name

COGESER

Website

https://cogeser.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

COGESER is a Paris-based international brokerage firm founded in 1980 that connects exporters and importers of pulses and agricultural commodities across more than 20 countries, generating revenue through transaction commissions governed by Gafta Trade Rules.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Pulses and Agricultural Commodities Brokerage

NAICS

Commodity Contracts Intermediation (52316), Grain and Field Bean Merchant Wholesalers (42451)

SIC

Wholesale-Farm Product Raw Materials (5150), Commodity Contracts Brokers & Dealers (6221)

akta.pro primary industry

Grain & Oilseed Trading/Wholesale (AFAIAKAA)

Keywords

• Pulses brokerage
• Agricultural commodities trade
• International commodity brokerage
• Agro products trading
• Dry beans brokerage

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Brokerage Commissions on International Trade: COGESER acts as a broker facilitating international trade transactions for pulses and agro products. The company brings together buyers and sellers, assists in contract negotiation and execution, and actively monitors contract fulfillment from shipment through settlement. Revenue is generated through commissions or fees on successfully executed transactions.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Core offering

COGESER is an international brokerage firm specializing in the trade of pulses and agro products including dry beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas, quinoa, rice, and wild-rice. The company connects first-class exporters and importers globally, gathers and verifies market information, negotiates and issues contracts, and actively monitors contract fulfillment from shipment through settlement. All contracts are governed by Gafta Trade Rules.

Product overview

COGESER is a brokerage company offering international trade brokerage services for pulses and agricultural commodities. The company provides a single unified service: connecting exporters and importers worldwide to facilitate the trade of commodities including chickpeas, groundnuts, lentils, popcorn, red beans, and other related agro products. COGESER gathers, verifies, interprets and transmits market information, facilitates negotiations, issues contracts, and provides ongoing support from shipment through settlement.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• International Pulses Trade Brokerage

Named customers2 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Gafta (The Grain and Feed Trade Association)minorOthersCOGESER's contracts are governed by the Gafta Trade Rules. Gafta is a trade association for the grain and feed trade. COGESER utilizes Gafta's standardized trade rules to govern their brokerage contracts, enabling consistent contract terms and dispute resolution mechanisms across international transactions.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Viterra: Viterra (formerly Glencore Agriculture) is a global agricultural commodity network that originates, transports, and markets grains, oilseeds, and pulses across major producing and consuming regions. It is a broad incumbent comparable to COGESER in international commodity intermediation, though it operates an integrated asset-heavy origination network rather than a pure brokerage model.
• Louis Dreyfus Company: Louis Dreyfus Company is a global merchant and processor of agricultural commodities, including grains and pulses, with origins and European heritage similar to COGESER. It is a broad incumbent comparable in its international commodity intermediation role but vastly larger in scale and scope.
• Bunge Global: Bunge is a leading global agribusiness and food ingredients company that originates, trades, and processes grains and oilseeds worldwide. It is comparable to COGESER in the agricultural commodity intermediation category but operates at vastly larger scale with integrated origination, processing, and trading.
• Olam Agri: Olam Agri is a major global agri-commodity trader and processor with significant activity in grains, oilseeds, pulses, and other agricultural products across emerging markets. It is a broad incumbent comparable to COGESER in international agricultural commodity intermediation but at much larger scale and with integrated supply chain assets.
• ADM (Archer Daniels Midland): ADM is a major global agricultural processor and commodity trader, moving pulses, grains, and oilseeds through its international origination and destination network. It is a broad incumbent with comparable international commodity intermediation activity, though much more diversified across commodity types and downstream processing.
• Glencore: Glencore is one of the world's largest commodity trading houses with significant agricultural commodity activity alongside its dominant metals and energy operations. It is a broad incumbent comparable to COGESER in international commodity intermediation, operating as a much larger counterpart in many of the same producer and consumer markets.
• Cargill: Cargill is one of the world's largest agricultural commodity traders, moving grains, oilseeds, and pulses globally. It is a broad incumbent operating across the entire agri-commodity value chain, providing a benchmark for what scaled commodity intermediation looks like relative to COGESER's specialist pulse brokerage model.

Direct peers

• AGT Foods: AGT Foods is one of the largest global suppliers of pulses and specialty crops, headquartered in Canada and operating across major pulse-producing and consuming regions. It is a direct peer to COGESER, focused on the same product categories (lentils, chickpeas, peas, beans) and serving similar exporter/importer counterparties worldwide.
• Arbel Group: Arbel Group is a Turkey-based international trader specializing in pulses, beans, and grains with origination in major producing countries and global destination reach. It is a direct peer to COGESER as a specialist pulse broker/trader operating across overlapping origin and destination markets including Turkey, MENA, and Europe.
• Export Trading Group (ETG): ETG is a global agricultural commodity trader with a strong focus on pulses, oilseeds, and grains across Africa, Asia, and other emerging markets. It is a direct peer to COGESER in pulse commodity intermediation, with comparable specialization and similar international brokerage function across many of the same origin and destination countries.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cogeser

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 COGESER