Close, but no cigar. It was a busy week for B2B startups, which came oh-so-close to hitting the $100 million mark in investment rounds. The week’s biggest winner landed in an unlikely B2B startup focusing on video content, but enterprise cybersecurity saw its own impressive numbers, too. We break down the funding rounds below.
B2B Payments
MC Payment
Mobile Credit Payment, better known as MC Payment, is a Singapore-based digital payments firm helping the world of B2B get on board with eWallets and mobile transactions. The company announced a $4.5 million Series B funding round on Thursday (Aug. 25), led by ESW Manage. DZW Capital and Golden Equator Capital also participated, according to reports.
MC Payment said it will use the funds to expand into Australia’s B2B space. With a presence already in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia, MC Payment provides electronic and mobile payments solutions for B2B logistics and transport providers, as well as consumer commerce verticals. Among its products is Xaavan, a B2B eCommerce platform that aids in large-value procurement.
Supply Chain Management
Gravity Supply Chain
Cloud-based B2B logistics and supply chain management startup Gravity Supply Chain is looking to expand across Asia-Pacific and just raised $1 million to do so. Based in Hong Kong, Gravity operates in Australia, Singapore, South Africa and the U.K. The firm’s CEO, Graham Parker, said it will use the $1 million to fuel growth and expand its team.
Gravity uses data analytics and machine learning to manage inventory, suppliers, transportation, sourcing and other supply chain activities across the globe. It uses the data from logistics providers and other third parties, like customs agencies and weather feeds, to help its corporate customers gain deeper insight into the function of their supply chains and gain predictive capabilities, reports said.
Reports said the funding is the result of gaining support as the company reaches an array of key performance indicators, where investors pay out portions of their backing as each KPI is met.
Enterprise Security
Auth0
The company calls itself an Identity-as-a-Service startup. Auth0 provides security solutions for businesses with a web and mobile presence, tackling the security issues of the login process. Auth0 provides authentication and identity solutions, and with $15 million in Series B funding, the firm said it has also revealed a new security feature to its offering, which enables the detection of a breached password.
Current clients of Auth0 include Dow Jones, but it services businesses ranging from startups to major corporations, the firm said. According to CEO Jon Gelsey, clients often start with basic login security solutions then add more sophisticated security features offered by Auth0 over time.
Trinity Ventures led the funding round, announced on Wednesday (Aug. 24), which also included Bessemer Venture Partners, K9 Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank.
ID Experts
Late last week, ID Experts closed a $27.5 million funding round for its identity fraud and cybersecurity protection services. The software company saw the funding from health care private equity firm Peloton Equity and Trident Capital Cybersecurity, reports said, while BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners and Sandbox Advantage Fund, both existing investors, also participated in the found.
ID Experts said it will use the backing to repurchase shares from existing shareholders and progress the development of its Software-as-a-Service tool used by a range of verticals, including the health care, retail and public sectors.
But as suggested by the presence of health care investors, ID Experts is focusing largely on this particular industry.
“The health care industry is currently the most lucrative target for cyberattacks, as evidenced by the recent proliferation of health care entity breaches and hospital-focused ransomware attacks,” said Peloton Equity Partner Ted Lundberg in a statement. “We are excited to partner with ID Experts to help such organizations lower their cyberrisks, handle an incident if it occurs and mitigate the damages.”
Business Intelligence
Panopto
In the largest funding round of the week, Panopto revealed $42.8 million raised — the third-largest funding round in 2016 so far in its home region of the Pacific Northwest.
Panopto services a range of enterprises, from financial services to manufacturers, by helping them store and sort video content. While it first began as a way to help universities manage video lectures, Panopto said it saw demand among the enterprise in need of managing video for events, sales, marketing and employee training purposes.
“There’s just a huge amount of demand; every enterprise company must have a video strategy,” said CEO Eric Burns to reporters. Qualcomm and Tableau are now clients of the company. The new funding, reports said, will be used to help continue Panopto’s growth and to more adequately compete with top rivals, like Microsoft and IBM.
Sterling Partners led the funding round, while existing backers and a senior credit facility underwritten by Square 1 Bank also took part, reports said.
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