The B2B industry saw some hefty funding this week, and funding reached multiple points of the globe. In fact, VCs touched upon six nations in four continents, crossing their own borders to support innovators overseas. Collectively, startups in a range of services — from small business funding to Software-as-a-Service — raised more than $70 million. Take a look at the cross-border startup funding action below.
Asia
India is often a hotbed of B2B venture capital, and this week, the market lived up to its reputation.
B2B Software-as-a-Service firm CloudEndure secured $7 million from backers in its Series B funding round, reports said Wednesday (Dec. 9). The company saw support from Magma Venture Partners, India’s Infosys and several private investors, reports said.
CloudEndure provides businesses with a way to stay in operation even during downtime or while a company is migrating its operations to the cloud, reports said. It’s a combination of cloud migration and data protection that makes up the Disaster Recovery product at the forefront of the company’s offerings, it said. CloudEndure stated that it would use the funding to scale up its operations to meet demand in the nation.
Aye Finance, a small business lender also based in India, secured $3 million in venture capital from Accion and SAIF Partners, according to an announcement made Thursday.
According to Aye, the company services a unique type of business, often considered “too complex” for other microfinance lenders and still too small for traditional banks. To fill the needs of this segment, called the “missing middle” by Aye, the startup deploys technology, credit assessments and the Industry Cluster Enablement lending model to provide working capital to these companies. The latter is a strategy that allows lenders to assess creditworthiness of businesses with little credit history by getting educated on that business’ industry to understand its reputation and the demands of that specific sector.
SAIF Partners Managing Director Vishal Sood highlighted this approach in a statement issued Thursday. “Aye Finance’s innovative ‘industry insight’ approach has helped the lender find, assess and evaluate prospective borrowers,” he said. “Their creative approach has helped India’s micro and small businesses obtain the financing they need and has unlocked credit for entrepreneurs who are typically locked out of the financial system.”
Other investors flocked to India for logistics startup BlackBuck, a company that helps businesses book freight services. The firm saw $25 million in funding from an array of backers, including Russia-based billionaire Yuri Milner and local eCommerce giant Flipkart, reports said Wednesday.
The company uses an online marketplace business model to aid in the booking of truck transit between cities; according to reports, the funding is the largest ever seen by an online freight transit startup. The record-setting Series B funding also saw participation from New York’s Tiger Global and Accel, which has operations in the U.S. and India.
From Russia to the U.S., venture capitalists seem to support India’s B2B startups. But it wasn’t the only Asian nation to see investor action. Over in Malaysia, startup Supahands, which links entrepreneurs and SMEs to a digital assistant to outsource administrative operations like data entry or customer management, secured seed funding from Axiata Digital Innovation Fund and 500 Startups. While the exact value of the investment was not disclosed, the companies said it amounts to the “single-digit million range.”
The Software-as-a-Service company already has corporate clients across Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, the U.K. and U.S., reports said Tuesday. Looking ahead, Supahands said it will look to integrate its solution into the mobile device to meet customer demand.
Africa
Africa doesn’t often land in our B2B Venture Capital roundups, so we’re happy to see one company buck the trend. Kenya-based ePayments firm Kopo Kopo, which is helping businesses in the nation get on board with ePayments acceptance, has raised new funding to help the company propel its small business lending operations.
The company revealed $2.1 million in venture capital, though Kopo Kopo did not reveal who fueled the funding. The investment, however, will be used to help grow the startup’s GROW venture, a merchant cash advance aspect of the business. “We’ve built underwriting models that accurately assess merchant risk based on inflows/outflows, and we’re focused on leveraging those models,” said the firm’s cofounder, Ben Lyon, according to reports last weekend.
Kopo Kopo also includes a service, Payments Hub, which helps its business customers more quickly schedule large batches of payments. While the startup said the funds will help the company not only expand its SME lending services but also lessen its dependence on staff in the U.S., the company added that it will be looking to expand outside of Kenya and into new jurisdictions.
Europe
The U.K. B2B startup community saw significant action, largely among VCs interested in how these companies are helping other businesses fuel growth.
Reports Tuesday said HSBC and Harmony Partners joined together to provide $30 million in funding to Big Data analysis startup Platfora, a firm that wants to make crunching numbers a bit less daunting for businesses.
“Organizations of all types are facing big challenges to harness the power of Big Data analytics and need to empower business users with the right tools to address them,” said HSBC Head of Strategic Innovation Investments Remi Bourrette in a statement announcing the funding. The U.K.-based startup said it will use the capital to eye expansion throughout Europe and, soon after, Asia.
Wednesday reports highlighted the $2 million investment handed over to U.K. startup Lystable, in part by PayPal Cofounder and existing backer Peter Thiel via his venture capital fund, Valar Ventures. Toba Capital also participated in the funding, reports said.
Lystable provides a platform for companies to manage all of their vendors and freelancers, and already, the company is providing services for big names like Google.
The Netherlands saw a bit of VC action this week, too, when Monday reports said Amsterdam-based CustomerGauge secured $2.5 million in a Series A funding from local firm Newion Investments. The startup provides software for businesses to maintain customer relationships and grow revenue from existing customers, according to reports. CustomerGauge said it will use the funding to explore new markets, including the U.S.
North America
Speaking of the U.S., VCs backed another startup similar to CustomerGauge on Wednesday, too. Journey Sales, a customer engagement tool that integrates into companies’ existing CRM platforms, announced Series A funding led by MissionOG, with participation from a slew of other backers, including NewSpring Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
The exact amount of fundraising was not disclosed, but Journey Sales said it would use the backing to respond to customer feedback on its flagship service, Smart Rooms, a customer engagement portal built on Salesforce. According to the startup, business customers are looking to engage in a more digital manner with their customers and to use that data to analyze sales effectiveness.
The B2B world saw more venture capital action than usual this week, and it was more global than usual, too. The mainstays, like India-based logistics startups and Big Data in the U.K., made their appearance. But it’s a welcome surprise to see new support for players like alternative lenders in Kenya and Software-as-a-Service providers in Malaysia, too.
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