Big Banks Steal The B2B VC Show

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The venture capital world lit up last week with reports that B2B tech startups are now seeing increased funding, raising money at a faster pace than B2C startups.

Data from PitchBook and Reuters concluded B2B startups saw a 40 percent jump in the value of venture capital last year, while B2C startup funding declined by 9 percent during that time.

Unfortunately, for the world of B2B payments, those B2B startups seem to be serving more of the retail crowd. Case in point: Soundtrack Your Brand, which raised $11 million last week to provide retail stores with a music soundtrack service — not exactly the showcase for investor support of business FinTech.

But last week also revealed another trend: VCs’ love of the invoice financing platform, with new backing going to Kickfurther and Onfido, two SME lending portals that operate in the space.

This week, the streak continued, and while a limited number of deals emerged, significant investments were handed to B2B startups operating in the enterprise finance sphere.

 

B2B ePayments

Transactis

In the biggest B2B venture capital story of the week, some of the brightest names in banking lent their support to B2B digital payments firm Transactis.

Capital One, Wells Fargo, Fifth Third, PNC and TD, as well as Safeguard Scientifics, provided a combined $30 million to the startup, which provides Software-as-a-Service for businesses that want to reduce their dependence on paper documents and processes in their accounting.

Transactis’ Series E funding is a massive show of support by traditional FIs for the digitization of the accounts payable and B2B payments space.

“Businesses of all sizes rely on their banks to provide secure, innovative billing and payment services,” Transactis Chairman and CEO Joe Proto said in a statement at the time. “We are so proud to serve the most progressive banks in the payment industry and even more proud that Capital One, Fifth Third, PNC, TD and Wells Fargo are more than customers; they’re also now our investors.”

 

Invoice Finance 

Platform Black

Wednesday (April 20) saw Platform Black become the latest invoice financing player to nab investment, with $7.2 million provided by its parent company, GLI Finance. The U.K.-based startup said it plans to use the funding to continue its growth trajectory. Since its launch in 2012, the firm said it has facilitated $178 million worth of invoice financing to local SMEs.

Platform Black also claims a zero default rate for FY2016.

“GLI Finance’s continued support will help us to drive the business forward with increased investment in the platform itself and improving our users’ experience,” Platform Black Managing Director Caroline Langron said in announcing the funding. “We’ve bolstered reporting functionalities to deliver funders with an overview of average return rates and real-time default data and will continue to make enhancements to the platform which deliver real value.”

 

Enterprise Security

Anomali

This cybersecurity startup gave Transactis a run for its money with its own $30 million funding round. Anomali announced its Series C backing on Thursday (April 21), with investment provided by Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), General Catalyst Partners, GV and Paladin Capital Group, according to reports.

Anomali includes the Anomali Enterprise and ThreatStream names, linking companies with digital security and threat identification solutions. In a statement, IVP General Partner Steve Harrick pointed to the ability for the startup to evolve its security software with the changing landscape.

“Anomali’s innovative security software allows customers to keep pace with the compounding growth in threat indicators, while maximizing the utility of their existing security infrastructure,” he stated. “The company has pinpointed market demand, while hiring the talented management team required to create the next great company in the security space.”