A New B2B FinTech Unicorn, And More Funding Ahead

B2B technology startups continue to gain valuable attention among venture capitalists.

In a recent report, seed investors explored why their focus has turned to enterprise startups as opposed to consumer-facing technology firms after the publication’s analysis revealed that today’s seed investments favor B2B startups over B2C.

Jenny Lefcourt of Freestyle Capital, for instance, said that consumers are an increasingly difficult sales target because they “became fickle with the proliferation of VC-backed, consumer-focused startups over the past few years.”

This week, Smartfin Capital reflected investors’ rising interest in B2B startups with the announcement of a $267 million fund. The Belgian private equity firm said it will focus on the B2B technology segment with its Capital II fund, “including software and hardware companies, or traditional companies that can be digitized by technology, 5G and predictive maintenance,” said Founder Jurgen Ingels in a recent interview with Consultancy.eu.

As corporates continue their modernization and digitization efforts, opportunities for emerging startups to disrupt the status quo and improve business operations are expanding, with FinTech as a bright spot in the startup pool.

There may not have been the most B2B FinTech funding deals this week, but the investment rounds that did land on the board were significant, most notably due to a nine-figure investment that propelled one company to unicorn status. Take a look at how more than $198 million in fresh funding landed in the B2B FinTech space below.

MioTech

Headquartered in Hong Kong, MioTech aggregates supply chain and financial data to enable enterprise clients to assess sustainability, social responsibility risks and other performance metrics. The company recently announced via press release an undisclosed Series A+ funding round led by Horizons Ventures, though declined to disclose exactly how much it landed. MioTech did say, however, that it plans to use the funding to invest in talent recruitment and research and development as it drives its presence in Asia’s enterprise sustainability arena.

Avii

Another B2B FinTech declining to disclose details of its latest funding is Avii, which offers a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for businesses in the auditing, tax, compliance and management consulting industries, with KPMG among its clients. A press release this week said Avii has raised its first external funding from Blue Diamond Capital, which has added to Avii’s $2.5 million in internal profits. The funds will be used to invest in hiring efforts as it connects clients to a single platform for an array of accounting software solutions.

Receipt Bank

The U.K.-based Receipt Bank connects professionals in the small business accounting space to its pre-accounting technology with tools to aggregate and codify small business financial data. The company recently announced a $73 million Series C capital raise, which came in the form of equity and debt. Insight Partners led the round, while Augmentum Fintech, Kennet Partners and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) also participated. The company plans to use the funding to focus on expansion throughout Europe, North America and Australia. It will also build upon its existing suite of technologies designed to manage manual, data-intensive tasks for small business accountants, freeing them up for more value-added advisory services.

HighRadius

The leader of the B2B pack this week is U.S.-based HighRadius, a SaaS provider focused on accounts receivable and treasury management solutions for corporate customers. The company raised $125 million in Series B funding led by ICONIQ Capital, pushing the company into unicorn status. Susquehanna Growth Equity and Citi Ventures also participated, the announcement said. HighRadius plans to deploy the capital to focus on continued platform development and geographic expansion.