B2B eCommerce Tips The VC Scales

More than $874 million in fresh funding landed at B2B startups this week across a range of market segments and geographies. An Egyptian firm landed the MENA region’s largest-ever seed round, a California company proved U.S.-based alternative small business lending isn’t dead with investors and an India startup landed more than half a billion dollars. See all of the latest B2B fundraises below.

FinBox

India’s FinBox landed an undisclosed amount of pre-Series A funding, reports in Inc42 said this week, with investors at Arali Ventures leading the investment in the credit risk management technology startup. FunBox works with other lenders to underwrite financing to self-employed, small merchants and new-to-credit customers, reports said. FinBox plans to use the investment on product research and development.

DiviPay

Australia’s ANZ Bank led a $1.56 million investment round in commercial card startup DiviPay, reports said this week, via the bank’s venture capital unit ANZi. Seed Space Ventures and former Pepper Money Chief Executive Patrick Tuttle also participated. DiviPay offers a virtual card generation tool that enables businesses and their managers to oversee employee spend, set controls and analyze expense behavior. DiviPay also integrates into businesses’ existing financial platforms, including Xero and QuickBooks. The firm plans to deploy the investment to bolster its staff levels and strengthen its product offering.

Fyle

India-based expense management startup Fyle announced $4.5 million in fresh funding this week led by U.S.-based Steadview Capital, adding to the previous Series A round announced in April. Tiger Global, Freshworks and Pravega Ventures also participated, a press release said. Now that Fyle has officially launched operations, the company said it would deploy the funding to focus on product innovation and global growth and to invest in sales and marketing efforts.

MaxAB

Egypt’s MaxAB demonstrates the strengthening FinTech scene of the country, with investors placing $6.2 million in the B2B eCommerce startup, MENAbytes reports said. The round marks the largest-ever seed round raised by a startup in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region. Co-led by Beco Capital, 4DX Ventures and Endure Capital, MaxAB’s funding will be used to focus on gaining traction across Egypt and, eventually, other markets. Investors at 500 Startups, Outlierz Ventures and others also participated, according to reports. MaxAB targets informal food and grocery retailers and suppliers, connecting them on a digital platform to conduct trade.

SaaSOptics

Headquartered in Georgia, SaaSOptics operates a B2B SaaS subscription management platform with integrated eInvoicing and payments for SaaS firms. The company said in a press release this week it has raised $12 million in Series B funding led by Fulcrum Equity Partners, which provided a combination of equity and debt, including a Silicon Valley Bank credit line. SaaSOptics said it will deploy the funding to invest in engineering and product management.

ForwardLine Financial

Positioned as a non-bank small business lender, California’s ForwardLine Financial secured $20 million in growth capita, reports said this week, with investors at Five Oceans Capital and Marisco Enterprises leading the fundraise. The alternative lender provides financing to small businesses as well as payment processing services to those borrowers. ForwardLine said it plans to deploy the capital to bolster its loan origination initiatives.

Khatabook

India-based Khatabook offers digital bookkeeping and online payment acceptance solutions for businesses, and has just raised $25 million in Series A funding in support of its offering. GGV Capital, Partners of DST Global, RTP Ventures, Sequoia India, Tencent, Y Combinator and other investors also participated, with the investment also seeing contributions from more than 20 angel investors. The company said it will use the investment to develop new features for its B2B offering, with a focus on billing and invoicing.

Clix Capital

Non-bank financial company Clix Capital, based in India, announced a $40 million fundraise this week led by AION Capital, Inc42 reported. The alternative small business lending platform said it will use the funding to expand into consumer lending while also building out its existing SMB lending platform. Clix Capital launched after acquiring assets from GE Capital, reports noted.

nCino

Cloud banking technology firm nCino said it raised $80 million in new funding, the company told PYMNTS this week. Funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates led the round, according to a press release, while existing investor Salesforce Ventures also participated. The company said it plans to use the investment to propel innovation of its bank operating system, and specifically to invest in research and development, international growth, talent acquisition and employee development.

Rapyd

With $100 million in new funding, Rapyd plans to expand its API platform used by business clients to empower its own capabilities, including online checkout, funds collection, funds disbursement, compliance, foreign exchange management, card issuing and more. The company, based in London, also plans to use the funding to finance future acquisitions and team expansions. Oak HC/FT led the funding, as reported, while Tiger Global, Coatue, General Catalyst, Target Global, Stripe and Entrée Capital also participated.

Greensill Capital

Though new funding for the controversial trade finance startup has not been confirmed, the Financial Times reported this week that SoftBank’s Vision Fund is planning to top up its investment in the U.K. FinTech. Citing unnamed sources, the publication said the new investment would add to the previous $800 million the Vision Fund provided earlier this year, which pushed Greensill’s valuation to an estimated $3.5 million. The sources said SoftBank plans to place “a few hundred million” dollars into Greensill. Both Greensill and SoftBank declined to comment.

Udaan

With more than half a billion dollars in new funding, India-based B2B eCommerce startup Udaan takes the lead in this week’s B2B venture capital roundup. Udaan announced $585 million in Series D funding led by Tencent, Altimeter, Footpath Ventures, Hillhouse, GGV Capital and Citi Ventures, while existing backers Lightspeed Venture Parners and DST Global also participated. Udaan focuses on smaller, family-owned stores, chemists and other small businesses, enabling them to search for and procure goods online across a range of product categories. As Udaan continues to focus on bringing more businesses onto its platform, the company said it will focus on monetization and revenue-generating models moving forward.