BNPL for Biz Platform Vartana Grabs $57M Seed Funding

Managed checkout and buy now, pay later (BNPL) platform Vartana kicked off its quest to dominate the market with $57 million in seed funding, including $7 million in equity.

According to a Thursday (Jan. 20) press release, Vartana plans to invest the fresh capital in product development by doubling its engineering capacity and adding more sales and operations staff.

Technology firm Audacious Ventures led the equity portion of Vartana’s seed funding round while specialty finance firm i80 Group offered $50 million in debt to the efforts. Flex Capital and angel investors including Shoaib Makani, Joe Kraus, Bipul Sinha, Allen Shim and Adil Syed were also part of the seed funding, per the announcement.

Founders Kush Kella and Ahmed Sharif started Vartana last year to give companies a managed checkout platform “to help them close more deals faster,” the announcement says.

The platform gives technology buyers a variety of payment options and offers vendors tools to close deals and generate sustainable cash flow through pre-paid offerings.

“We create a win-win scenario for both buyers and sellers of SaaS and other technology products,” Kella said. “Buyers can solve budget constraints by paying on a schedule that works for them, while sellers get paid upfront and eliminate churn on deals.”

Vartana helps mid- to late-stage technology companies and their resellers to pre-approve customers in the sales funnel for payment plans through real-time automated underwriting technology, allowing customers to choose their preferred payment options and complete transactions through an integrated checkout experience.

Related: London-Based Zilch Blasted for Promoting BNPL to Buy Pizza

Meanwhile, consumer finance company Zilch is being blasted by economists for encouraging U.K. consumers to use BNPL plans to buy cheap supermarket pizzas and other treats.

Zilch’s virtual card is accepted at thousands of U.K. retailers, including grocery stores, and allows users to pay for one-fourth of their purchases upfront and spread the rest of the payments across six weeks, according to the report.