iZettle Scores $63M For SME Financial Services

Sweden-based iZettle secured new funding from investors, reports said Wednesday (Jan. 11), as the company looks to strengthen its position in the SME financial services space.

According to an announcement, the firm raised $63 million from backers in a funding round led by Victory Park Capital and existing supporters. The financing comes in the form of equity, iZettle said.

“The funds will be used to further grow iZettle’s offering to ensure it continuously innovates and keeps supporting the needs of small businesses in Europe and Latin America,” the company said in its announcement of the investment.

In addition to the funds, iZettle also announced its new CFO, Maria Hedengren, who joins the company from online gaming company NetEnt, according to reports.

IZettle has expanded its presence across Europe and Latin America since its 2010 launch and has similarly introduced new services for its SME clients. The company first surfaced as a direct competitor to Square, but last year, the firm introduced a small business financing solution, which predicts future card sales to assess how much it can lend to a company. Dubbed iZettle Advance, the solution was rolled out to European SMEs and followed an earlier investment round that yielded $67 million.

“Small companies have persistently been underserved by the traditional finance industry. We want small companies to thrive, and with iZettle Advance, we’re applying the exact same logic as when we started iZettle five years ago and completely overhauled card payments acceptance for small businesses,” Jacob de Geer, iZettle cofounder and CEO, said in a statement last February.