US B2B Startups Miss The Scoreboard

The U.S. is in a B2B startup lull, it seems. Some solid funding rounds made for more than $23 million in investments landing at startups across the globe, from Finland to Southeast Asia. None, however, went to U.S. B2B startups.

Asia scored big this week with investments in Singapore, India and China across industries like enterprise security and eInvoicing, while European startups made their mark, too. But a seed-stage startup fund in San Francisco announced its own new $50 million investment pool, so funding for B2B FinTech startups in the U.S. could be on the horizon.

eInvoicing

Zervant

The biggest splash in the B2B payments startup space came from Zervant, an electronic invoicing company providing invoice management and generation services to SMEs. On Tuesday (Aug. 16), Zervant revealed a $4.5 million funding round, which will be used to explore new products, including an invoice financing service.

Northzone and Conor Venture Partners led the funding round, reports said. The startup services businesses across Europe but said it will also look to expand geographically. In a statement, Northzone said it has put its confidence behind Finland-based Zervant as the eInvoicing industry, it believes, is on the “verge of transformation.”

Enterprise Security

Appknox

Singapore’s Appknox announced a $651,000 investment round this week, a move that will help the startup expand its security solutions for corporate mobile apps. Reports on Wednesday (Aug. 17) said Appknox raised the funds from SeedPlus and will use the support to expand into Southeast Asia.

Appknox was launched in the wake of Starbucks’ data breach, which led to the data of its mobile customers being compromised. The company has developed a cloud-based tool to audit a mobile app’s security and to detect potential vulnerabilities. In addition to its Singapore operations, the company said it’s working with clients in India, including Times Internet and Paytm.

Onfido

U.K.-based Onfido revealed an undisclosed amount of funding for its B2B services that provide background checking solutions. The funding, led by Salesforce Ventures and Talis Capital, will help Onfido expand globally, according to reports late last week.

Currently, Onfido focuses on identity verification for the financial services sector, enabling compliance under Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering regulations.

Supply Chain Management

Youpeiliangpin

China-based Youpeiliangpin may not be the easiest name to remember for some, but investors certainly have faith in the company that provides supply chain and logistics services to the agriculture and restaurant industries, helping small and medium-sized restaurants get the products they need. Reports on Thursday (Aug. 18) said backers at Shanghai Yiguo Electron Business and GMK Holdings led the way for $18.1 million in a Series A funding round.

Existing backers Yunqi Partners and iResearch Capital also took part in the funding round, reports said, which will be used to boost Youpeiliangpin’s technology and supply chain network. The firm also said it will look to enhance integrated logistics solutions. According to reports, the company said it aims to link smaller restaurants directly to farmers to reduce travel time and costs of agriculture products.

Incoming Investments

Susa Ventures

Susa Ventures revealed on Tuesday that it secured a $50 million fund for its Susa Ventures II, which will focus on seed-stage funding for startups, like B2B FinTech companies. Susa said, however, that it does not focus on specific verticals, describing itself as “vertical-agnostic.” Still, reports said B2B enterprise software makes up about 60 percent of its investments.