The big pay-off in B2B ecommerce these days is in online payment transactions—at least that’s what many investors seem to believe.
Investment funds have been flowing into companies that provide new technology systems for managing payment transactions between buyers and sellers in business-to-business ecommerce. The latest investment comes in the form of $176 million announced yesterday for Fundbox, a firm that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to produce a credit decision for an online buyer within three minutes and sometimes within one minute, the company says. Fundbox then finances and pushes payments to the sellers in its network minus a fee, then collects from the buyers using its credit service.
The Series C funding round was backed by investors Allianz X, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), HarbourVest, 9Yards Capital, Hamilton Lane, SEB Private Equity (on behalf of clients), Cathay Innovation, Synchrony, MUFG Innovation Partners Co. Ltd., Recruit Strategic Partners, GMO Internet Group and Arbor Ventures. Prior investors also participated in the round.
Fundbox also said yesterday that it had secured a $150 million credit facility, bringing its total raised this week to $326 million. CEO Eyal Shinar says Fundbox will use the investment funds to pay for marketing, technology development and other operations, and use the credit facility to finance the payments it pushes to companies in its network.
Aside from that $150 million credit facility, Fundbox has received to date a total of $300 million from investors including Amazon.com Inc. CEO Jeff Bezos, Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst and Spark Growth Capital.
According to a recent Fundbox research study developed in partnership with PYMNTs.com, there are $3.1 trillion owed to U.S. suppliers and locked up in accounts receivables systems.
“Fundbox is transforming the entire B2B landscape by freeing up trillions of dollars,” says Melissa C. Guzy, co-founder and managing partner at Arbor Ventures. “In order for B2B commerce to meet the needs of a 21st century economy, transactions must happen real-time. The team at Fundbox has a very clear vision of the future of B2B commerce, which is why this is a team we chose to back.”
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