It was a busy week for B2B venture capitalists who spread their wealth amongst a wide range of B2B FinTechs, with investments totaling more than $164 million. Backers placed the spotlight on everything from B2B eCommerce, to supply chain optimization, to Banking-as-a-Service, but human resources and payroll landed in the top spot in this week’s VC roundup.
Procurement Partners
Procurement Partners, a procure-to-pay technology provider designed for the healthcare industry, did not disclose how much it raised from Serent Capital when it announced the growth investment. But the company did note that collaboration with Serent will accelerate its growth with a focus on delivering cost savings to healthcare buyers and streamlining B2B trade and payments between healthcare facilities and their vendors. The company supports the full purchasing cycle with invoice integration and compliance auditing capabilities.
SOLV
India-based B2B eCommerce company SOLV secured an investment from SC Ventures, the companies announced this week, although they did not reveal the value of the funding. Targeting micro and small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), SOLV offers a platform for India businesses to buy and sell goods to each other in a digital landscape with a focus on widening participation in the digital economy. In addition to supporting trading, the platform facilitates logistics and delivery, wielding blockchain, artificial intelligence and machine learning to optimize workflows. SOLV said it plans to expand into new geographies to reach more SMBs around the globe.
Modularbank
Core banking technology provider Modularbank, based in Estonia, has secured $4.85 million in funding that will help the company expand throughout Europe and the U.K., the company said. An EU-Startups report said Karma Ventures and BlackFin Capital Partners led the round, while additional funding came from Plug and Play Ventures, Siena Capital and angel investor Ott Kaukver. Modularbank offers financial institutions and non-financial businesses an application programming interface (API)-first core banking technology that they can integrate into existing infrastructure to launch their own range of financial services. In addition to geographic expansion, the company said it plans to grow its staff count.
Unit
With $18.6 million in new funding, Unit is another Banking-as-a-Service company that has launched on the market with a focus on enabling non-bank businesses to integrate payments and other financial services into their own offerings. Reports in TechCrunch said Better Tomorrow Ventures, Aleph, Flourish Ventures, Operator Partners and TLV Partners all participated, as did 30 angel investors. In an interview with the publication, CEO Itai Damti pointed to a range of use cases for the technology, including transportation companies collaborating with their fleet of contractor drivers or accounting platforms working with clients. The tool aims to deepen relationships between businesses and their partners, including freelancers, with financial services like payment cards to pay commissions.
Fairmarkit
Enterprise spend management and procurement technology provider Fairmarkit landed a $30 million investment round, reports said this week, with GGV Capital and Insight Partners leading the funding. According to Venture Beat report, Fairmarkit will use the investment to expand its product, support and sales teams. The company aims to optimize enterprise tail, indirect spend using machine learning and artificial intelligence to automate procurement workflows and enhance visibility through vendor communication, bundling orders to lower purchase volumes, and seeking the most competitive pricing.
Stord
The $31 million in Series B funding for Stord will enable the logistics startup to support supply chain optimization for shippers. Founders Fund led the investment, according to Stord’s announcement, while existing backers Kleiner Perkins, Susa Ventures and Dynamo also participated, among others. While the company did not disclose exactly how it plans to deploy the investment, it did say it aims to help migrate shippers to cloud-based solutions to embrace technology-driven supply chains and remove inefficiencies from the logistics industry.
LeafLink
Operating in the legal cannabis space is LeafLink, a company that connects marijuana wholesalers to retail buyers. The company secured $40 million in Series C funding led by Founders Fund, while Thrive Capital, Nosara Capital and Lerer Hippeau also participated. According to a TechCrunch report, LeafLink plans to use the investment to scale its technology to optimize the cannabis supply chain. The company is planning its growth as it expects new legal markets to emerge in the coming weeks and months.
Hibob
Human resources technology startup Hibob announced $70 million in new funding this week with investors at SEEK and IGP leading the Series B investment. Hibob offers a digital platform for human resources professionals including time and attendance, payroll report and compensation, time off, and other core HR solutions. In the blog post announcing the investment, Hibob pointed to the growing digitization needs of HR teams as a result of pandemic-fueled work-from-home requirements. “The future of work is remote, distributed and hybrid,” the company stated.
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