Venture funding backers pushing ClearCost to next level in fertilizer trade - Manitoba Co-operator

ClearCost, an open commodity trading and risk-management platform designed for fertilizer, has received strategic venture funding through a partnership with SaskWorks and Motiv Ventures, according to Manitoba Co-operator. Chief executive Keith Busch, speaking from Saskatoon, framed the company's mission around bringing transparency to a market he described as trading "in the dark." The company argues that tens of billions of dollars in North American fertilizer purchases flow through retailers on handshake terms, with farmers often prepaying cash for physical delivery and receiving little information or recourse.

The platform is a marketplace combining regulated trust-based payments, fully transparent logistics pricing and strict counterparty vetting. After two and a half years of feedback from agricultural producers and retailers, ClearCost plans a product relaunch in January, with broader Canadian coverage and a portion of the United States, including the U.S. Midwest, on the longer-term agenda. Busch said the new system will offer more liquidity without a fixed buyer or seller role, and will integrate logistics with railways, ports, river barges, rail transload sites and trucking companies to move product to farms.

ClearCost's earlier version served approximately 1,500 customers in the three Prairie provinces. The company expects its outreach to expand substantially, largely due to the revamped launch and its registration as a payment service provider from the Bank of Canada. Busch set a goal of reaching 5,000 farms in Western Canada next year.

Motiv Ventures CEO Clark Lei said in a press release that ClearCost "has the vision and foundation to lead" transformation of fertilizer market infrastructure. Jeff Linner, chief investment officer and partner at PFM Capital, which manages the SaskWorks Venture Fund, said the leadership team has demonstrated a clear road map to disrupt bulk fertilizer purchasing and that the firm is excited to support ClearCost in the initial phase of its growth plan. Financial terms of the funding were not disclosed in the primary source.