While this week’s B2B venture capital roundup saw some usual suspects (like alternative SME lending), the firms that caught venture capital attention largely broke through the mold of what the industry has seen so far.
A mobile-only SME recruiting service, a startup that operates solely to provide enterprises with an extra boost when they’re working on a big project and a creator of enterprise micro-apps are just some of the new kids on the B2B VC block. Find out who they are and how much they raised below.
Alt-Lending
Valiant Finance
The alternative lending space just keeps getting bigger. Australia’s Valiant Finance announced this week a $589,000 funding round provided by Westpac Banking Corp.’s venture capital unit, according to reports. Valiant acts as a brokerage platform to match small business borrowers with online lenders, so it doesn’t directly lend out funds. But reports said the company could still play a key role in the disruption of the traditional banking and lending sector. At present, 26 alternative lenders have joined the Valiant platform, reports said, including Kikka Capital, ThinCats and Prospa.
Enterprise Mobility
Jobandtalent
In what marked the largest funding round for a B2B startup this week, Jobandtalent revealed that it raised $42 million in Series B funding for its mobile hiring service geared towards SMEs.
The firm automates the matching of job candidates and employers and has been in operation for a while. The new funding, however, marks investor confidence in Jobandtalent’s decision to ditch its desktop service and focus solely on its mobile tool; reports also said the company has turned its attention from corporations to SMEs, placing it square in the competitive field of recruitment firms.
Atomico, led by Skype Founder Niklas Zennström, led the funding round, which Jobandtalent said will be used to expand into new markets. The company currently operates in Madrid, Barcelona, Mexico City, Bogota and London.
Enterprise Support
Patina
This one is a bit of an outlier. Patina, which revealed a $3.45 million funding round on Tuesday (June 14), provides businesses and their executives with support when in need of a boost. According to the company, it can aid in project completion, talent development or other critical initiatives.
The business proposition of Patina may be pretty broad, but investors have shown their support nonetheless. In what marks its largest funding round to date, Patina said it will use the backing to expand into new markets and continue its growth.
Software-as-a-Service
Sapho
Developing business applications can be complex, but one software startup, Sapho, wants to streamline the process by developing so-called “micro-apps,” which are built for legacy software tools to notify users of data updates and project completion.
Their selling point, reports said, is that, while the SaaS space is booming, the enterprise is slow to ditch their legacy software tools and upgrade to entirely new ones. To support their need for more sophisticated SaaS solutions, Sapho provides micro-apps to integrate with existing software packages, including sales, accounting, payroll and HR.
On Wednesday (June 15), the firm revealed a $9.5 million Series A funding round led by Alsop Louie Partners. SoftTech VC, Caffeinated Capital, Morado Ventures, AME Cloud and Bloomberg Beta also participated, reports said.
Treasury Management
Overbond
The bond issuance space rarely sees innovation, but investors have made it clear that there is room for development here and that they’re willing to back it. On Thursday (June 16), startup Overbond announced that it secured $7.5 million in seed funding from backers in support of its digital bond issuance platform for corporate treasurers.
According to the firm, Overbond is the first FinTech market entrant into this space. The company enables treasurers to access a digital platform and communication service between dealers and issuers to receive bond market updates and manage related data of these processes.
Morrison Financial Services led the round, according to reports.
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