Investors Open Their Wallets For B2B Payments Efficiency

It was another stellar week for B2B FinTech startups, which announced a collective $191.8 million in venture capital and growth equity investment this week. Funding rounds this week were all about the startups that help businesses get paid faster, through more channels, more securely, regardless of geographical location. Plus, there was yet another appearance from an alternative SME lender (this time from the Philippines) and new financial backing for an SME banking disruptor and a payroll player.

B2B Payments

PayCommerce

A $22 million Series B funding round has surely been welcomed by PayCommerce, which offers cross-border payments solutions through its consortium of partner banks across the globe. The company recently spoke with Karen Webster about the investment and its goals for the funding, announced Tuesday (Oct. 18). PayCommerce Chairman and Founder Abdul Naushad said the company’s closed-loop network provides far greater transparency in the cross-border payments process than traditional interbank processes do.

The firm has developed its Federated Ledger solution to support real-time payments, clearing and settlement for its partner banks, supporting both distributed and centralized ledgers, reports said. Tritium Partners led the funding round, which will be used by PayCommerce to focus on continuing technological innovation.

Nvoicepay

B2B payments automation firm Nvoicepay revealed a $10 million investment Wednesday (Oct. 19) led by Napier Park Financial Partners in the form of growth equity. Offering suppliers accounts receivable support to accept electronic payments from their corporate buyers, Nvoicepay focuses on faster, more secure B2B payments. In a statement, the firm’s CEO and cofounder, Karla Friede, said the investment from Napier Park will propel the company’s accounts receivable technology development.

“Nvoicepay’s rapid growth across multiple industry verticals underscores the strength of its platform, and we are thrilled to partner with Karla and the entire team to support Nvoicepay’s next phase of growth,” said Napier Park Financial Partners Managing Director and Co-Head Steve Piaker, who will join the company’s board of directors, reports said.

PaySimple

With a focus on services businesses, PaySimple offers a platform to help companies begin selling their services online and offers solutions specific to the payment collections needs of these businesses. On Thursday (Oct. 20), the company revealed $115 million in growth investment from Providence Strategic Growth (PSG).

PaySimple helps services companies get started online by supporting online appointment scheduling, registration, online marketplaces and online payment; those tools include the ability to bill clients in person, online, over the phone or with an invoice, key for B2B service providers.

“Legacy paper-based cash and check processes, and even terminal point-of-sale solutions, don’t fit the needs of relationship-oriented verticals and limit their growth,” explained PSG Managing Director and Head Mark Hastings in a statement. “That gap affects a great number of SMBs across the country, and PaySimple is uniquely positioned to meet the needs of the market with the platform they’ve built.”

SME Banking

IbanFirst

Hailing from France, IbanFirst wants to reinvent small business banking. The startup launched with a focus on providing SMEs foreign exchange services, but having secured a banking license in Belgium and now having raised $11 million — announced Tuesday — IbanFirst is looking to become a full-fledged bank for the small business.

With plans to operate across the European Union, the company said it focuses on offering competitive FX rates for small businesses and will look to partner with other FinTech innovators as it expands its product offering.

SME Finance

First Circle

What would a B2B venture capital roundup be without an alternative finance player landing on the board? This week, it comes from Philippines-based First Circle, which raised $1.2 million in seed funding to expand its financing platform throughout Southeast Asia.

The company was founded last year in an effort to accelerate the small business financing process and says it can offer a decision for borrowers within 24 hours, with funds landing in a small business’ account just a day later. Key Capital, based in Ireland and the U.K., led the funding round, reports said Tuesday, while 500 Startups and IMJ Investment Partners also participated. According to reports, First Circle’s is thought to be the largest-ever seed round completed in the Philippines.

Enterprise Security

HYPR

With $3 million in fresh funding, HYPR can now accelerate its efforts to safeguard mobile-based solutions for businesses and consumers. The startup, which announced the investment round Tuesday, said RTP Ventures, Boldstart Ventures and Mesh Ventures led the investment. HYPR said the funds will be used to expand its staff and focus on developing its biometric security offerings for corporations to offer a secure experience for their own employees and clients using mobile services.

“As businesses increasingly depend on connecting their core platforms to mobile and IoT devices, knowing who is on the other end of those connections becomes crucially important,” said RTP Ventures Founder and Managing Partner Kirill Sheynkman in a statement. “We believe that HYPR can become a ubiquitous building block for the swelling wave of connected applications, giving their customers a way to securely interface with the complex mesh of users, devices and services.”

Travel And Expense Management

TravelBank

A few months ago, Accel and NEA led a $10 million Series A funding round for TravelBank, a startup that offers a mobile app for businesses to encourage employees to spend wisely for corporate travel. According to Thursday reports, TravelBank is now making that investment round public to target SMEs too small for its expense management peer Concur and has just rolled out its app to capture the SME market.

With integrations with existing accounting solutions, like QuickBooks, TravelBank enables employees to take pictures of their receipts to generate and file expense reports. Employers can also activate a rewards feature on the app to guide employees with spending limits for their business travel plans. Smart spending means travelers can get back some of the company’s unspent money, reports explained.

In a statement, Duke Chung, cofounder, described the corporate expense management industry as “a very sleepy space.” With the fresh funding, he said he’ll work to inject innovation and competition into the market with a focus on marketing and sales.

Payroll

JetPay

Sure, JetPay isn’t strictly a back-office service provider. The startup offers services like credit and debit card processing for businesses, on top of its payroll and human capital management solutions. But with $19.6 million in fresh funding, we think JetPay is worth a mention in our B2B venture capital breakdown.

The company revealed Wednesday that it secured the funding from Larry Stone, a former principal and director of Mercury Payment Systems, with the funding provided as a combination of debt and equity, reports said. According to the firm, $9.5 million of the investment will be provided as a senior secured loan specifically for JetPay’s HR & Payroll Services unit. Following his investment in the company, Stone will join JetPay’s board of directors.