This Digital Gem Trading Platform Will Launch Early Next Year

Singapore—A new platform will launch early next year, aiming to provide a secure marketplace for gemstone trading.

The first quarter will see the official rollout of Gembridge, where verified members can buy, sell and consign stones via a secure and insured door-to-door service.

Behind the development of web-based Gembridge.com is industry veteran Tony Brooke, who has more than four decades of experience in the gemstone sector, as well as Nick Marrett and Mark Taylor, both of whom have more than 20 years of experience in the digital sector working with such companies as Google, Apple, eBay, Airbnb, American Express, Unilever and more.

It’s this combination of experience that the team believes sets them apart and will help make their product a success with trade members.

“We feel that we, more than pretty much anybody else, have got what it takes to really make this work,” Brooke told National Jeweler.

To register, new businesses are verified through an international KYC process, as well as a peer-review from existing Gembridge members.

After passing that process, industry companies can sell items with a listing on the platform, buy items through the showcase or list a requirement request for a specific item they’re looking for which other members can fulfill.

The items sold on the platform are shipped to members through Gembridge’s global hubs in Bangkok, Geneva, and Bahrain, where they are verified by a third party—the ICA GemLab in Bangkok, to start, but more labs are coming on board—to ensure the listing, initial gem report and stone all match.

ICA GemLab has even created a new verification report for the process with minimal turnaround time.

More hubs are also being added to Gembridge’s lineup as we speak; Brazil will be online next.

Interested parties also can opt for a secure viewing room at a hub through Brinks, where they can examine a stone, pay for it and walk away with it if they so choose.

Consignment is also an option as Gembridge provides an insurance policy allowing for that as well.

Gembridge takes a sales commission for each transaction—5 percent from the seller and 3 percent from the buyer.

In addition to partnering with Brinks for logistics, Anglo East Group for insurance, Ingenique Solutions for KYC/AML compliance and ICA GemLab for verification, Gembridge has also involved KPMG as corporate finance advisors, which put the business model together.

Gembridge is licensed to trade by