Venture Capitalists Continue Aggressive Push Into B2B FinTech

With four, nine-figure funding rounds, venture capitalists continue to drive aggressively into the B2B FinTech landscape. This week’s roundup includes new investment in digital currency crime mitigation, small business accounting, small business insurance and accounts receivable automation — with another investment in commercial card technology on the way.

Tazapay

Singapore-based Tazapay offers small- to medium-sized businesses a digital escrow service to mitigate the risks of cross-border trade and global payments. Investors recently placed $1.75 million with the company, with Sequoia’s India Surge, Saison Capital, RTP Global and January Capital all participating in the round. Tazapay said it will use the funding to invest in customer acquisition and to scale its technology and growth teams.

Auditoria

Corporate finance automation technology provider Auditoria announced a $15.5 million Series A funding round, which the firm said will go towards data science investments and sales, marketing and customer success team expansion. Venrock led the oversubscribed round while Workday Ventures and existing backers B Capital Group, Engineering Capital, Firebold Ventures and Neotribe Ventures also participated. Auditoria integrates with organizations’ ERP (enterprise resources planning) systems to drive automation of workflows through the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing and data science.

Pilot

Small business accounting and payroll startup Pilot announced a $100 million funding round, but it was a notable investor in the company that grabbed headlines for the firm. Jeff Bezos’s Bezos Expeditions led the round alongside Whale Rock Capital while Sequoia and Index Ventures also participated. Reports said the funding has doubled Pilot’s valuation to $1.2 billion. While the firm does not offer accounting software, it connects its business customers to Pilot employees, the majority of which are former accountants, to outsource administrative tasks. Reports did not reveal what Pilot plans to do with the funding.

Chainalysis

Also securing $100 million in Chainalysis, which announced its Series D investment round late last week. The blockchain startup is now valued at more than $2 billion, according to reports, with Paradigm leading the investment. Ribbit and Addition also returned to fund the firm while new investor TIME Ventures also participated. Chainalysis analyzes blockchain-based data to mitigate digital currency crime and money laundering for its corporate and government customers.

Next Insurance

InsurTech startup Next Insurance secured a $250 million funding round, the firm recently announced, with FinTLV Ventures and Battery Ventures leading the investment. CapitalG, Group 11, Zeev Ventures, Founders Circle and G Squared also participated. Next Insurance, which targets small to medium-sized businesses with its digital insurance solutions, aims to reshape the small business insurance landscape by connecting business owners that have historically been underserved by larger insurance firms with flexible and digital-first solutions. The company did not disclose what it plans to do with the funding.

HighRadius

This week’s VC leader is HighRadius, a B2B FinTech offering order-to-cash and treasury management technology. Investors placed $300 million with the company, which is now valued at $3.1 billion, according to reports. D1 Capital and Tiger Global led the Series C round while existing investors ICONIQ Growth and Susquehanna Growth Equity, along with several industry leaders, also participated. Through embedded analytics and artificial intelligence, HighRadius aims to support chief financial officers through accounts receivable and treasury automation, working capital optimization and cash forecasting. With the latest investment, HighRadius said it will invest in product innovation and accelerate its go-to-market initiatives.

Up Ahead: Ramp

While the investments have not yet been officially announced, reports in The Information, citing unnamed sources, said commercial card FinTech Ramp is nearing the close of two funding rounds. One is said to be worth $65 million led by D1 Capital Partners, with Stripe, Goldman Sachs and Coatue Management also participating. The second investment comes in at $50 million, provided by Stripe, leading reports to believe that Ramp may migrate from Marqeta to Stripe to facilitate business card issuing.