About us

The creation of Covantis

In 2020, six of the world’s largest agri trade companies – ADM, Bunge, Cargill, COFCO International, LDC, and Viterra – came together to change the way the industry operates. In 2022, they were joined by Marubeni as our 7th shareholder. Out of this unique collaboration Covantis was created, with the aim to digitalize trade execution processes and bring efficiency to industry participants at all levels. The nature of this collaboration has been truly unique and never carried out before on such a scale.

Platform launch and Brazil

Upon our incorporation as an independent legal entity in Geneva, Covantis started building the platform in 2021 with modern technologies and best-in-class partners. The platform would replace archaic and outdated post-trade execution processes and ultimately accelerate the transformation of global trade for agricultural commodities. When the Covantis platform launched, it initially focused on exports out of Brazil. In its first year of operation, the Covantis platform captured over 200 million metric tons of transactional volume of Soybeans, Soybean Meal and Corn, representing over 1600 vessels of Brazilian origin cargo. The platform connected trading companies acting as shippers, FOB/FOB traders and charterers with hundreds of users from more than 30 entities across the world.

Entering the US and Canada

In 2022, Covantis launched the platform in the United States and Canada. With this launch, new commodities such as Wheat, Canola, Sorghum, Barley, DDGS, Rice, Cornmeal and Beet pulp pellets were added to the platform. This enabled client trading firms to execute their contracts involving bulk vessels loading from this region. In the meantime, the network grew to 50 legal entities across 16 Agri groups, which were now set up in the platform to execute all their shipments for the newly added commodities and markets. In that year more than 207 million metric tons was transacted through the platform.

Expansion continues in South America

The year after saw Covantis launched in Argentina and Uruguay – and the network continued to grow. Over 40 legal entities, acting as exporters, FOB/FOB traders and charterers, started executing their Argentina and Uruguay flows in the Covantis platform. By year’s end, the platform captured over 719 million metric tons of transactional volume, achieving an impressive 39% year-on-year growth.

Going global

In 2024, Covantis is now a truly global platform. The company has established a presence across North American, South American, European, Australian and South African grains, oilseeds, and vegetable oils markets. It covers all major commodities and continues to expand its network of more than 55 global and regional forward-thinking agri trading firms, with more than 230 legal entities worldwide. Last year over 808 million metric tons of transactional volume went through the Covantis Voyages platform, leading to an 11% growth year-on-year. Today, we continue to build new products and capabilities to improve post-trade execution processes. Any industry participant is welcome: the more we can collaborate as an industry, the better we can make global agri trade work for everyone.

The Covantis vision

Finding new solutions to the inefficiencies and outdated processes present in post-trade execution globally is in Covantis’ DNA. By digitizing these processes, our vision is to connect all participants across the agri trade supply chain and create an industry standard for performing post-trade execution.

Through this approach, we can accelerate the transformation of global trade. The industry is ready to embrace change, and Covantis is leading the way.

Learn about our technology

We put our customers first

We provide an exceptional overall customer experience, offering meaningful value to the customer. To achieve this, we get to know our customers and their pain points. We develop true partnerships with them, listening to their feedback in order to develop solutions to their problems. We help them to open up new horizons and grow their business.

We care about our employees and partners

We know that people are our most valuable asset, and that diverse and inclusive teams will make Covantis thrive. In practice, this means caring about our people’s safety, health and wellbeing, as well as respecting each other and trusting in individual capabilities. Our culture encourages feedback, praise, offers opportunities and makes Covantis a fun place to work.

We lead the change

We facilitate innovation by offering new perspectives, helping the industry to become simpler and more efficient. This means keeping open to new ideas, with a willingness to learn from outside parties. We don’t copy old patterns but seek to transform and improve them. With a flexible, curious and creative mindset, we agree that what we know today may change tomorrow.

We believe in progress over perfection

We constantly strive for improvement, using user feedback to guide our progress forward. To deliver value faster, we use an iterative approach, starting simple and building complexity along the way. We stay realistic, never over-promising and adding to value through small iterations.

We are transparent and honest

We’re open with external stakeholders and within our own organization. We stay true to our word, and respect regulations and competition. It’s important for us to operate honestly, ethically, and lawfully. We take responsibility, play fair, and follow a mantra of ‘say what we do, and do what we say’.

The Covantis team

CEO

Petya Sechanova

Petya Sechanova is the CEO of Covantis, bringing over a decade of experience in the agricultural commodity industry to her role. She is at the forefront of driving innovation in the agricultural sector, focusing on the modernization and streamlining of trade execution through digitalization.

Under her leadership, Covantis has become a key innovator in the sector, delivering cutting-edge solutions that enhance transparency, efficiency, and collaboration among industry stakeholders. Her deep industry knowledge and commitment to innovation position her as a leading voice in the modernization of global agricultural trade.

Head of Product

Christophe Hannon

As Head of Product at Covantis, Christophe combines deep industry expertise gained across global trading companies with strategic product leadership to drive innovation in commodity trading. Leading a high-performing team of experienced product specialists, he is dedicated to developing solutions that solve real industry challenges, enhance efficiency, and create tangible value. Passionate about empowering teams, Christophe fosters a culture of Trust, innovation and continuous improvement, ensuring Covantis continues to deliver impactful digital products that transform global trade.

Head of Finance

Christina Wang-Pennacino

Christina Wang-Pennacino is an accomplished finance and organizational performance leader with over 25 years of international experience and a proven track record in senior management roles. She has driven financial strategy and operational excellence across diverse sectors.

Currently active as Head of Finance and Organisational Performance at Covantis, Her extensive background includes experience in tax, corporate finance, and tech startups, making her a confident and reliable leader. She is also member of ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and trained from high-tech muti-nationals.

Head of Software Delivery

Yuriy Obriza

Yuriy Obriza leads software delivery at Covantis, overseeing engineering, operations, security, and support for Covantis products. With a computer science background and experience in commodity trading and consumer goods, he has held global IT roles in project delivery, business transformation, and analytics across supply chain, manufacturing, and sales. He has been with Covantis since its inception in 2018 and also oversees corporate operations, ensuring effective company-wide planning, performance tracking, and executive coordination. Passionate about empowering engineering teams and business-driven tech leadership, Yuriy focuses on talent development, efficiency, and driving innovation through continuous improvement in ways of working and the adoption of best practices in software delivery, ensuring the delivery of secure, reliable products for the commodity trading industry.

Head of HR

Carine Cohuet

Carine Cohuet is a dedicated Human Resources leader with a strong track record of aligning HR practices with business strategy to drive organizational success. With significant experience in international environments, including commodities trading, she excels in implementing effective HR solutions that enhance both employee performance and business outcomes. Carine’s expertise includes HR strategy, recruitment, compensation and benefits, performance management, and the development of policies that support long-term growth. As Head of HR at Covantis, she plays a pivotal role in shaping a people-focused culture while ensuring operational excellence in HR functions. Her leadership and strategic mindset enable her to navigate complex challenges in multicultural settings.

Head of Commercial

Sorin Albeanu

Sorin Albeanu is a seasoned professional with over 17 years of experience in driving business growth for platforms and electronic networks in energy and commodities trading. Since mid-2020, he has been leading the commercial department of Covantis, focusing on sales, client relations, customer success and the digitalization of trade execution processes in agricultural market worldwide. The initiatives Sorin is managing aim to automate processes involving multiple market participants, but also solve specific issues seen by trading firms when performing contract execution for both bulk vessels and containers. Before Covantis, Sorin was based in London for over 10 years where he worked for various energy trading networks and software companies. Sorin is also a Council member for Gafta, the international grains trade association.

Head of Legal

Milijana Zaric

Milijana Zaric is an international lawyer with over 15 years of experience managing legal and compliance matters across multiple jurisdictions and global teams. Her expertise spans technology, commodity trading, and food processing industries, with a strong focus on commercial contracts, corporate law, and governance. Milijana has a proven ability to provide strategic legal advice, mitigate risks, and design and implement compliance procedures, as well as internal policies and controls. She brings specialized knowledge of challenges faced by tech start-ups, including contracting, funding rounds, M&A, share schemes, regulatory compliance, data protection, insurance, and employment law. Currently serving as Head of Legal and Compliance and Secretary to the Board of Covantis SA, Milijana plays a key role in advancing the company’s mission to digitalize trade execution processes for the commodity trading industry.

Covantis is a member of major trade associations

Covantis awards

Maritime Technology Award ” in 2023 at the Commodity Trading Awards.

The award recognises innovations that offer the potential to make significant improvements to commodities trading, maritime transportation and logistics.

Close to 30 respected judges valued Covantis as a truly innovative company that brings considerable value to the agricultural commodities industry.

Book a demo

Working at Covantis

We are always on the lookout for talented individuals to join our growing team. Whether your interest or expertise lies in technology, operations or business development, we have exciting opportunities that allow you to innovate and grow in a dynamic environment.

Leave us your info at this email hr@covantis.io and we will reach out to you!