Wayflyer Bolsters Growth Platform With $1 Billion Financing

Wayflyer, a revenue-based financing and growth platform for eCommerce businesses, has secured $1 billion dollars in financing from investment management firm Neuberger Berman.

This off-balance sheet program will enable Wayflyer to deploy capital to its extensive network of over 3,000 eCommerce merchants globally, the company said in a Wednesday (Sept. 6) press release emailed to PYMNTS.

“This $1 billion off-balance sheet purchase of assets from Neuberger Berman demonstrates the power, success and resilience of our proposition and will provide the capital firepower for us to ensure our eCommerce customers can continue to thrive in any economic conditions,” Aidan Corbett, co-founder and CEO of Wayflyer, said in the release.

The financing follows Wayflyer’s growth in recent years that saw it increase its capital deployed by 100% between 2021 and 2022, according to the press release.

The company has partnered with eCommerce businesses looking to realize their growth potential, with over 80% of Wayflyer’s customers returning for additional financing after completing their initial funding deals, the release said.

Its platform serves as a one-stop shop for working capital, providing both affordable, non-dilutive, unsecured capital that helps businesses grow and a free analytics platform that provides knowledge and insight that helps them optimize how they spend their capital, per the release.

Zhengyuan Lu, managing director at Neuberger Berman, noted that the global eCommerce sector is expected to continue growing rapidly and said in the release: “We’re always looking for innovative partners that provide genuine value in the space and have been thoroughly impressed by Wayflyer’s model and experienced team. We’re thrilled to partner with Wayflyer on its mission to be the growth partner of choice to ambitious eCommerce businesses.”

This announcement comes at a time when rising interest rates, high inflation and lower consumer spending have led to a sharpened focus on belt tightening among venture capital (VC) firms, putting pressure on companies as they pivot to profitability.

In this challenging environment, angel investing, government funds, corporate partnerships and other alternative options are gaining traction and being used to complement traditional methods of funding as companies scramble to stay afloat.