The Tradeshift story
At Tradeshift, we're building a more connected world.
It began with a
dream.
Inspired by social networking sites like LinkedIn, Tradeshift was born out of a desire to build something truly different and impactful. A global trade network, encompassing every interaction between a buyer and a supplier, and delivering tangible value to every participant.
Tradeshift simplifies and automates everyday business interactions such as purchasing, invoicing, and payments by offering a centralised digital platform where businesses can connect, trade, pay, and get paid. All in one place.
Tradeshift connects businesses on a single cloud-based network, delivering compelling value propositions for both buyers and suppliers. Our commitment to creating value for any business that joins the Tradeshift network means suppliers onboard faster and buyers achieve their digitalisation objectives quicker.
Today, Tradeshift is the world’s largest trade network, linking over a million companies globally, enabling seamless, digital transactions between customers and suppliers anywhere in the world.
Gert Sylvest
Co-Founder
Marrying social technology with hard transactions will change the way the world thinks about business and finance, and allow us to bridge major digital divides.
Gert Sylvest
Co-Founder
Marrying social technology with hard transactions will change the way the world thinks about business and finance, and allow us to bridge major digital divides.
Bigger team. Same vision.
Tradeshift has grown to over 350 people spanning every corner of the globe. Our network is home to a thriving community of more than a million business users. And we count a number of the world’s most respected financial institutions, BPOs and technology companies as our partners.
We might be built for change, but our focus has never wavered. We build the technology that ensures every business has the access and tools they need to benefit fully from digital global trade.
We help businesses
Connect all of their suppliers and all of their source-to-pay processes on a single, networked platform.
Buy what they need faster and generate new revenue streams through modern B2B e-commerce.
Access fast, predictable working capital and embedded financial services to help them grow.
Our values
One team, one mission
No individual contributor can get us to our goals alone. We’re all on the same team, and we treat each other that way. We seek out opportunities to collaborate, regardless of with whom, when, or where.
Win for our customers first
When we listen to and take others’ wants and needs to heart, we gain a deeper understanding of who they are, and can create real value for them.
Never stop challenging the status quo
We continually challenge ourselves and others to be better; we challenge processes and systems that aren’t working; and most of all, we challenge the notion that anything should go without being challenged.
Awards
Spend Matters Solution Map 2023
Spend Matters Solution Map 2023
Spend Matters 50 Providers to Know
Spend Matters 50 Providers to Know
Meet our leaders
James Stirk
Chief Executive Officer
James is Tradeshift’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of the company’s Board of Directors. He joined Tradeshift in 2021 to lead the company’s sales function in EMEA, where his exemplary leadership skills and commercial acumen played a pivotal role in securing a string of record-breaking deals for the company. Later, as Tradeshift’s Chief Revenue Officer, James was integral to the negotiations that led to the formation of a Joint venture with HSBC, a world-first in the provision of embedded finance capabilities.
In a career spanning 25+ years, James has built strategies for sales growth and business development for both established Multinationals (Fortune 500) and smaller (PE backed) organizations across finance, ERP, business intelligence and cybersecurity. He has held senior leadership positions with FinancialForce, McAfee and Oracle.
Based in the United Kingdom, James is a devoted father of 3 daughters, a strong advocate for mental wellness and takes part in regular fundraising activities in support of YoungMinds charity.
Jovita O’Byrne
Chief People Officer
Jovita is Tradeshift’s Chief People Officer, responsible for the company’s global people organization including culture and employee experience, talent management, talent acquisition and Total Rewards.
As an experienced leader and Human Resources professional, Jovita has more than 25 years of experience delivering Strategic and Operational HR Business Partnering to businesses across a wide variety of industries, multinational & indigenous, large and small businesses. Jovita is passionate about helping people move forward through discovering and growing their strengths. She boasts a proven track record of being highly effective; coaching leaders with uncompromising quality and total integrity.
Based in Ireland, Jovita has a particular passion for walking the coastal paths near her home, spending time with her two children and devouring anything leadership and development.
Gert Sylvest
Co-Founder
Gert Sylvest is one of Tradeshift’s Co-Founder. He has extensive experience with digital, cloud based procure-to-pay and financing, large-scale public-to-private P2P infrastructures, cross-regional cloud deployments, blockchain and interoperability.
Previously, he was responsible for the technical design and implementation of the Danish (Easytrade/Nemhandel) and European (PEPPOL) peer-to-peer-based source-to-pay digital infrastructures, with Accenture and Avanade.
Gert holds a MSc in Information Technology and Music, specializing in real-time distributed collaboration systems. He is based in Denmark.
Jim Modak
Chief Financial Officer
Jim Modak is Tradeshift’s Chief Financial Officer, responsible for oversight of the group’s financial activities and governance. With more than four decades of experience as a financial leader in high-growth businesses, Jim boasts extensive operational expertise in scaling and optimizing companies with notable strengths in pricing strategies, product & customer profitability, and joint ventures.
Jim has served as President, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Financial Officer of several software technology companies during his career. He has raised more than $1.2 billion in equity capital in both private & public transactions and has experience in M&A with over 50 acquisitions on the buy side and 5 on the sell side. As CFO at Tradex Technologies, he helped build the business into one of the leaders in developing digital marketplaces. He and the executive team ultimately sold the company to Ariba in one of the largest software M&A transactions at the time, valued at $5.6 billion.
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Jim began his career with KPMG Peat Marwick. He’s a keen golfer, a passionate coach/teacher, and a doting grandfather.
Jonathan Lagan
General Counsel
Jonathan is Tradeshift’s General Counsel responsible for corporate governance, risk management, compliance and all legal matters relating to the company and its dealings. He has worked as a banking and corporate lawyer for over twenty years, spending much of this time in leadership roles at UK publicly listed companies.
A sought-after advisor and respected figure in the legal industry, Jonathan spent 10 years as a legal director at retailer Tesco, earning the respect of his peers in navigating a wide range of complex legal challenges. Most recently, Jonathan was General Counsel at Aldermore Bank. Earlier in his career, he spent four years at Shearman & Sterling as a senior associate in its London office.
Originally from New Zealand, Jonathan is based in the United Kingdom. A keen sportsman, Jonathan loves skiing, riding horses, and track-driving, but spends the majority of his time chasing after his two sons and actively encouraging their support for the New Zealand rugby team.
Raphael Bres
SVP, Chief Product & Technology Officer
Raphael (Raphy) Bres is Chief Product & Technology Officer at Tradeshift, responsible for driving strategy, innovation and transformative technology initiatives across Tradeshift’s complete portfolio of solutions. Raphy first joined Tradeshift in 2020 as Chief Product Officer. He rejoined the company in 2024 following a two year stint at Spiff where, as part of the leadership team, Raphy and his teams successfully established a strong Product Market position leading to Spiff’s acquisition by Salesforce in December 2023.
A proven product leader and renowned problem solver, Raphy’s 25 years of experience spans Enterprise Financial Applications and B2B SaaS Solutions. He has held senior leadership positions with a host of leading software companies including PeopleSoft/Oracle, Microsoft, Workday, and FinancialForce now Certinia which was acquired in July 2023 .
Originally from France, Raphy holds a Master of Sciences in Economics and a Master of Sciences in Information Systems from the University of Paris-Dauphine. Raphael began his career at Deloitte Financial Audit and ERP Consulting. Having spent a significant portion of his career working in San Francisco, he is now in the process of relocating back to Europe.
Our investors
