Niche B2B Startups Nab The Cash

More than $127 million in venture capital funneled into B2B startups this past week, and investments were diverse. Alt-lending and logistics landed on the board, but innovators looking to highlight specialized areas, like apparel supplier sourcing and corporate events management, also saw their share of the money. PYMNTS traces through where the funding landed.

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Alt-Lending

Alternative lending platform Bizfi scored $65 million for its small business financing efforts, the company revealed Tuesday (Dec. 15). Metropolitan Equity Partners fueled the financing, which Bizfi said would be used to expand its existing offerings to SME borrowers. Specifically, the company is looking to speed up the lending process to get working capital in the hands of businesses more quickly. In a statement announcing the funding, Metropolitan said Bizfi is building “the future of small business lending.”

B2B Payments

Eved, which earlier this year launched an events-targeted B2B payments solution, said Wednesday (Dec. 16) that it raised $14.3 million in venture capital from a slew of investors, money the company said would be used to double its Chicago workforce. Reports noted that Huizenga Capital Management led the funding round, which also saw participation from MK Capital, Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Merrick Ventures. In addition to expanding staff, Eved said it would use the backing to boost sales efforts.

The firm provides event management services for corporations and recently rolled out EvedPay, a payments program that facilitates the payment processes involved in corporate event planning.

B2B eCommerce

B2B eCommerce startups are attractive to VCs, considering the multibillion dollar valuation the space will see by the end of the decade. But for Sundar, the startup that just secured $1.3 million in seed funding, its approach to B2B sales is a bit more specific. The company provides a SaaS-enabled marketplace geared towards the apparel industry, allowing these companies to source suppliers of materials they need to create their goods. Reports Tuesday (Dec. 15) highlighted the funding, led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation from Techstars Ventures, Correlation Ventures and others. The funding took place earlier this month, reports said.

B2B Sales

Innovators within the B2B sales process saw VC excitement this week, too.

Customer relationship management firm Pramata nabbed $10 million in Series A funding, reports said Monday (Dec. 14). The company leverages customer intelligence to improve visibility in B2B relationships, the company said. Volition Capital led the funding round, according to reports.

Account-based marketing for B2B firms also secured a venture capital win this week when Wednesday (Dec. 16) reports revealed Azalead raised $4.9 million. The company provides marketing software that implements machine learning to identify which companies are visiting a firm’s website. Azalead then automates data aggregation from that visitor’s own website, creating a database for marketers to more easily target potential corporate customers. Indinvest Partners led the financing round, according to reports.

And finally, another B2B marketing solutions provider, Full Circle Insights, nabbed its own financing to the tune of $4.7 million. Reports Thursday (Dec. 17) said Aligned Partners financed the Series B funding round for Full Circle, which integrates its Software-as-a-Service tool into Salesforce for businesses to manage their marketing efforts and assess their effectiveness.

Logistics

The B2B venture capital roundup wouldn’t be complete without an appearance from an India-based logistics company. Luckily, Blubirch pulled through with its announcement of $2 million in angel funding provided by Chi Ventures, based in Singapore, reports said Wednesday (Dec. 16). The company specializes in reverse logistics, which includes handling procedures like product returns, as well as IT asset management. In an announcement, Blubirch said it would use the funding to strengthen its operations in India and expand its workforce. According to reports, the reverse logistics market is estimated to be worth $20 billion at present.

Also pulling through in this space was BlackBuck, which raised $25 million from Tiger Global, among other backers. The India-based startup is also a logistics player, focusing on the freight and transportation service for corporations. The firm said it would use the funding to expand throughout the country and address the fragmentation of the market’s intercity freight services.

The year is winding to a close, and venture capitalists are feeling generous. This week, B2B startups saw funding in an array of spaces, like logistics and alternative lending. But specialized, niche startups caught VC attention, too, making for a pretty lucrative week.