Now Closes $29M Financing Deal to Pay SMBs’ Outstanding Invoices, Scale

Now, a FinTech, has received $29 million in financing from a new credit facility and an additional equity investment led by Brigade Capital Management and Virgo Investment Group, according to a press release.

The credit facility will help the company expand the outreach of NowAccount, a payments acceleration solution for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), the release stated. The additional equity investment is being earmarked to further scale operations and build out Now’s product offerings to meet the changing needs of clients.

Since the pandemic gripped the world, Now has seen an increased demand for its services due to overdue invoices. Invoice payment times once averaged 48 days; now they have surpassed 70 days, according to the release.

“Small businesses often carry tremendous financial burdens, while at the same time accounting for trillions of dollars of B2B commerce annually,” said Now Co-Founder, President and CEO Lara O’Connor Hodgson in the release. “Providing businesses with an invoice payment acceleration solution enables them to access the capital needed to grow their business fearlessly as they serve more customers and engage in more commerce.”

See also: Big US Companies Take Longer to Pay Invoices

An SMB with a NowAccount delivers its product to a customer, submits an invoice to the customer and simultaneously uploads the invoice to its NowAccount. Once approved, Now pays the SMB the entire invoice amount, excluding a one-time 2.5% to 5% service fee, according to the release.

“The business’ customer pays the business how and when they normally would and remits the payment to a lockbox or account at Now,” the release stated.

Sejal Shah Gulati, Now’s newly appointed chief growth officer, said in the release that her focus will be to further advance Now’s approach to tackling late payments.

“Unpaid invoices are an age-old problem that prevents businesses from growing,” she said in the release.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Now was co-founded by Hodgson and Georgia-based lawyer and politician Stacy Abrams.

Read also: As Digital Business Payments Become the Norm, New Use Cases Emerge