B2B Payment Platform Taulia Seeks $60M To Expand Product Line

Taulia Inc. has attracted some of the world’s biggest investors.

The San Francisco-based supply chain payment technology firm is raising $60 million from backers, CEO and president Cedric Bru told The Wall Street Journal.

Taulia’s fundraising could value the company at as much as $400 million. If the goal is reached, the cash would be used to expand and introduce new products, Bru told the WSJ.

It’s being led by Ping An Insurance Co. of China Ltd.’s investment division and will include J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s strategic investment unit and a venture arm of Saudi Arabian Oil Co.

These investors see value in the startup that helps buyers and suppliers accelerate payments, improve supply chain health and unlock trapped cash. It couldn’t come at a better time amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Suppliers have faced pressure since March as access to cash has tightened during the pandemic. As a result, there have been demands for early payment as a source of liquidity, the newspaper reported.

Taulia’s online platform links companies and suppliers who enter their invoices into the system to be paid by the buyers. It allows suppliers to receive early payment paid out by companies who owe it or by third-party financial institutions (FIs).

If it comes from FIs, the companies pay the lenders.

The platform, with its two million suppliers as clients, has financed more than $7.5 billion dollars worth of invoices in the second quarter, The Journal reported. Among the companies include such giants as Airbus SE and Nissan Motor Co.

Taulia previously had an exclusive relationship with Greensill, the London-based provider of working capital finance for businesses, but has expanded to include JPMorgan, UniCreditSpA and Greensill Capital to provide funding, the newspaper reported.

In April, Taulia partnered with J.P. Morgan to develop a trade finance solution that promised to give businesses liquidity to strengthen their supply chain.

The alliance with Taulia gives the bank a greater ability to help clients long-term by allowing them to inject and redeploy liquidity to their suppliers, Takis Georgakopoulos, global head of wholesale payments with J.P. Morgan, said in a statement.

In March, more than $4 billion in invoices were financed by Taulia’s platform. In addition, the number of new suppliers increased by 178 percent since February.