Previse, a London-based fintech startup providing business-to-business payment services, was founded to facilitate on-time payments between corporate buyers and suppliers.

“Small and mid-sized enterprises are the backbone of the world economy, generating the majority of growth, employment and innovation,” Paul Christensen, the firm’s CEO and co-founder, says. “Yet, most of them are consistently paid late by corporate buyers.”

Paul Christensen, CEO,
Previse

Calling that situation “unsustainable” and harmful to the world economy, Christensen and Previse co-founder and chief data scientist Philipp Schoenbucher founded Previse last year as a firm that uses artificial intelligence software and large amounts of data to expedite invoice payments. Their venture is being back by 2 million British pounds (US$2.59 million) in venture capital announced this week.

Previse’s invoice payment system works like this: As soon as a client company issues an invoice, Previse uses its artificial intelligence software and “hundreds of millions of data points”— including information related to the invoice recipient and the payments industry—to score the likelihood that a corporate buyer will pay the supplier’s invoice. It then shares that score with banks and asset management firms, who may then step up to instantly finance the payment of the invoice on behalf of the buyer.

In exchange for the quick payment, the supplier offers an invoice discount that Previse shares with the financing firm. Artificial intelligence software is designed to compile and analyze data and predict outcomes, such as the likelihood that a customer will pay an invoice on time, late or not at all.

Previse’s financial backers include venture capital firms Hambro Perks and Founders Factory along with individual “angel” investors.

Christensen is also a co-founder and advisor to Doctoring.co.uk, an online service that matches people with physicians; and an investor in Behavox, which provides an online platform and data analytics that financial services and other corporate clients can use to monitor internal compliance with their corporate policies.

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