Fundbox, Tipalti Tip The B2B Payments VC Scales

A summer lull in B2B venture capital appears to have given way to an impressive start to the fall season.

This week, two massive deals landed with B2B payments innovators at Fundbox and Tipalti, but they were far from the only players to have secured new funding.

Below, PYMNTS breaks down how more than $420 million in funding landed with B2B startups.

BankiFi

The U.K.’s Nationwide Building Society did not disclose how much it invested in BankiFi, but it did say that it’s support to the open banking FinTech comes as Nationwide plans to launch a business current account. BankiFi operates APIs to enable banking clients access to a range of business banking infrastructure to augment their own small business and corporate banking operations.

Hnry

Operating out of New Zealand, Hnry offers gig economy workers tax administration technology that has just caught the attention of investors to the tune of $1.35 million. The firm operates a platform to automate tax and financial management processes for gig workers, sole traders and contractors. Investors at Ice Angles and AngelHQ provided new funding for the company. Equity Venture Partners also participated, according to SmartCompany reports, which said Hnry plans to deploy the investment to accelerate its hiring activity.

Sempli

Colombian alternative small business lending platform Sempli announced $8 million in funding this week from Oikocredit and Incofin CVSO, according to a press release. Other backers of the Series A round include BID LAB, XPT1 Fund, Generación Exponencial and Impulsum Ventures. Sempli said the funding bolsters its balance sheet and supports its effort to strengthen its position in the country, which is Latin America’s third-largest market for small business lending.

Paro

Offering corporate users, CFOs, accountants and other finance professionals on demand, Paro, based in the U.S., announced a $10 million Series A round, with venture capital provided by Sierra Ventures and existing backers Revolution Ventures, KGC Capital and Tom Williams. The latest investment follows the company’s $5 million Series 5 round, leading Paro to dub this funding its Series AA, reports in TechCrunch said. Paro aims to simplify the talent search process for businesses in need of finance expertise, while connecting those businesses and professionals with automated finance technology to boost their productivity. Paro told reporters that it will look to wield the data it now has, and leverage it for freelancers and businesses using its solution.

FairMoney

Operating in Nigeria and headquartered in France, FairMoney targets small businesses with its mobile app using smartphone data to facilitate SMB loans. FairMoney announced nearly $11 million in venture capital this week led by Flourish, with DST Global and existing investors Newfund, Speedinvest and Le Studio VC also participating. The company’s technology can disburse a small business loan within five minutes, and focuses on micro-financing for loan values between $33 and $440. The new funding will be used to propel the company’s vision to create a holistic financial services platform for under-banked small businesses and individuals.

Drum

Founded by the founders of Kabbage, Drum has launched its on-demand network sales force platform with new funding from Propel Venture Partners, Felicis Ventures, BlueRun Ventures, American Express Ventures, GroTech Ventures, Wildcat Venture Partners, BoxGroup and SV Angel. Drum deploys the gig economy to find sales teams for businesses on demand. The $11 million in seed funding will help the firm build out its network of professionals (dubbed Drummers) and ready the launch of its buyer application in mid-October, reports in Pulse 2.0 said this week.

Teampay

Business expense management company Teampay revealed in a press release a $12 million fundraise led by Tribe Capital, the company said this week. Teampay plans to use the money to focus on product development and team growth within the U.S., with a focus on digital transformation services and analytics tools for corporate customers and their finance teams. Teampay offers companies spend management software designed to manage procurement and employee spend with a focus on the employee user experience and company policy enforcement. In addition to Tribe Capital, the funding round included participation from existing backers Crosscut, Silicon Valley Bank and Precursor Ventures.

ZenBusiness

U.S.-based ZenBusiness, which operates a digital platform to help entrepreneurs start their companies, announced $15 million in Series A funding this week via a press release. Connecting startups to accounting, tax management, banking, lending, website management and email services, ZenBusiness saw the latest investment from Greycroft, while Lerer Hippeau and Rise of the Rest Seed Fund also provided funding. New investors include Rosecliff Venture Partners, Interlock Partners and Recruit Strategic Partners. ZenBusiness said it will deploy the funding to expand its customer base and build out its functionality.

Mercury

U.S. digital bank Mercury announced $20 million in Series A funding in a blog post. Developed as an online bank for startups, Mercy launched in April of this year. The funding was led by CRV, while Andreessen Horowitz and a range of other backers also participated, including Dreamers Fund, Thirty Five Ventures, Serena Ventures and The Cultural Leadership Fund. In its announcement, Mercury said the new funding would allow it to “push deeper into the vision we have for what the first tech bank in the U.S. should look like,” and develop new features for its startup clients with a focus on payments and treasury management.

Everledger

Blockchain startup Everledger also secured $20 million with Tencent leading the charge. The Series A investment also saw participation from Graphene Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Rakuten, Fidelity and Vickers Venture Partners, reports in Ledger Insights said. Although Everledger’s distributed ledger technology first targeted the diamond supply chain, reports said the company has expanded into other markets, including luxury goods and fine wine, with a focus on traceability, validation and risk management for its business users.

Engage:BDR

Operating in the niche market of advertising and publishing, Engage:BDR announced this week a $26.25 million fundraise for its solution designed to provide affordable invoice financing for publishers as they wait for their advertising clients to settle the bill. Reports in L.A. Biz did not say who provided the funding, although noted the company plans to use the funding to strengthen its NetZero payment solution targeting accounts receivable and cash flow management for this sector struggling with late payments and high factoring fees.

OfBusiness

India small business lending platform OfBusiness is offering Series D shares to Falcon Edge India, Matrix Partners and Norwest Venture Partners to secure $34 million in new funding, Inc42 reports said this week, adding to the $49 million the company had previously raised. While OfBusiness did not publicly reveal what it plans to do with the investment, reports said the company has so far facilitated $83 million in small business loans, most of which has been issued without collateral.

Tipalti

Zeev Ventures led the $76 million fundraise for accounts payable automation company Tipalti, while Group 11 and new investors Greenspring Associates, TrueBridge Capital Partners, and 01 Advisors also participated. The Series D investment will help Tipalti continue to build out its platform with artificial intelligence as it focuses on invoice processing and payment automation for business users. According to Tipalti CEO and co-founder Chen Amit, “manual accounts payable processes are no longer an option.”

Fundbox

The largest haul of the week goes to Fundbox, which announced $176 million in Series C funding that will fuel the company’s expansion in the B2B payments space. Ahead of the funding announcement, Fundbox CEO Eyal Shinar told Karen Webster about the estimated $3.1 trillion locked up in accounts receivable as companies struggle with longer payment terms.

As Fundbox builds out its technology to unlock that capital, the equity financing, provided by Allianz X, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, HabourVest and several others, including existing backers Khosla, General Catalyst and Spark Capital Growth, will help Fundbox augment its existing credit line offering for small businesses with the creation and operation of B2B payment rails for its users.

“Everything is becoming a bit more consumer-like and streamlined,” Shinar said of B2B payments’ evolution.