B2B FinTech Backers Diversify

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It was hardly the most valuable week for B2B venture capital, coming in at a modest $43.12 million raised. But backers diversified their funding across B2B payments, alternative lending and beyond. Their money spanned global borders, too, hitting India, Australia, Canada and the U.S. We break down all of the funding rounds below.

 

B2B Payments

nanoPay

Canada’s nanoPay isn’t a B2B payments company — yet. It uses its own digital currency, MintChip, developed by the Royal Canadian Mint, to provide money storage and transfer solutions for individuals. But on Wednesday (Oct. 26), the company announced a $10 million Series A funding round led by Goldman Sachs, APAGM Services, Jarnac Capital Management and Rohatton.

With the new funding, nanoPay said it will explore an entrance into the B2B payments space. “After successfully deploying MintChip as a digital cash platform in Canada in June 2016, our focus is now on expanding the platform beyond digital cash to a broad range of B2B use cases that have global applications,” said the firm’s CEO, Laurence Cooke, in a statement.

 

SME Finance

KredX

KredX announced a $6.25 million funding round for a solution that provides invoice financing to SMEs. Announced Tuesday (Oct. 25), the Series A funding was led by Sequoia India and saw participation from Prime Venture Partners as well. KredX said it will use the funds to enhance the technology behind its solution and focus on sales.

Lendio

With Comcast at the investment wheel, SME lending marketplace Lendio announced a $20 million funding round Tuesday. Comcast Ventures was joined by Stereo Capital, as well as existing backers Napier Park, Tribeca Venture Partners and North Hill Ventures. Reports said Lendio will use the backing to support growth and focus on marketing. According to Lendio, it provided $63 million in financing to SMEs thanks to partnerships with 75 lenders on its site; the company also collaborates with the likes of American Express, Staples and GoDaddy.

Timelio

Invoice financing seems to be popular with investors these days. Australia’s Timelio Capital Fund offers investors a way to diversify their interaction with the invoice financing space and has secured $3.8 million in equity by Thorney Investment Group, as well as former ANZ Banking Group Head John Dahlsen, reports said Thursday (Oct. 27). Timelio has already provided $34 million to SMEs in invoice financing since its launch in April 2015, reports said, and claims a 30 percent growth rate every month. With the latest support, Timelio said it will expand its staff levels as it looks to help investors get exposure to Australian SME borrowers. By using investors’ funds to finance a range of outstanding invoices, investors’ exposure is diversified, reports explained.

 

Logistics

FR8

Remember when India was a hotbed of logistics investment? The latest funding round from local freight logistics startup FR8 could signal a comeback for the industry. The company announced a modest $971,000 investment Thursday led by Omnivore Partners. According to reports, FR8 said it will use the backing to increase operations and invest in technology to expand across India. The firm provides long-haul trucking solutions to businesses of all sizes and offers an online marketplace for companies to manage their logistics needs by matching trucking with transport demand.

 

eProcurement

WOTU

WOTU, which stands for We Organize The Unorganized, reported an undisclosed amount of investment from Kae Capital, reports said last weekend. The India-based startup operates in the agriculture and farming sector to connect farmers, food processors and manufacturers with buyers, like restaurants and hotels, acting as a B2B eMarketplace for procurers. Unnamed sources said the investment could be as high as $1 million.

 

SaaS

CaliberMind

With a focus on predictive marketing, Software-as-a-Service startup CaliberMind announced Wednesday the close of a seed round, raising $1.1 million from CEB Ventures, PV Ventures, Crawley Ventures and others, according to reports. The startup uses psychographic data to predict buyer habits for its corporate clients. The new funds will be used to fuel the development of its data science team and to propel sales efforts, it said.