So you thought the 42 million dollar kitty raised by the venture capital firms in the B2B sector was too small a take?
Stop and take a closer look:
Cross border payments and SaaS saw a major take-off during this period and venture capital inputs were upward bound with strong results, to compensate the earlier mentioned picture.
International financial destinations saw significant investor movements – crossing borders as far as Australia, China, USA and India – where investors successfully scouted for funds, with their plans of the future.
Here’s a breakup of who did what with their venture plans:
AIRWALLEX – Cross Border Funding
This Australian cross border payment startup raised an initial capital of $13 million in their Series A funding. The move was supported by the Chinese firm Tencent, with a participation from Mastercard and Sequoia Capital.
Airwallex focuses on business payments and aimed to utilise the funds sourced for building momentum for its forthcoming suite of APIs. The other area where the company will push its funds will be the global expansion of its operations.
Europe shall be its first destination for expansion market, according to reliable sources from the company.
“Our mission is to eradicate the burden of international payments so that businesses can transact across borders with ease.”, said Airwallex Chief Executive Jack Zhang in a statement.
NAV – SME Lending Area
Another company that raised a 13 million dollar fund, was NAV, (earlier known as Crediteria) which offers SMEs an online platform through which they can access funding opportunities.
The fund raised at $13m was in addition to its previously floated $25 million Series B funding round. Thus the company’s total funding raised came to $38 million.
The funding project was led by a principal team from Goldman Sachs Principal Strategic Investments in collaboration with CreditEase FinTech Investment Fund, Point72 Ventures and Clocktower Technology Ventures.
One of the highlights of the funding move was that the MD of Goldman Sachs Principal Strategic Investment Group, Rana Yared, would join the Board of NAV as an observer during the future plan implementations.
ICEKREDIT – Big Data
A leading Fintech operator with its headquarters in the People’s Republic of China, IceKredit commands BigData to provide credit evaluation services for small businesses.
Applying a specific version of machine technology in the sector, the Company offers personal credit evaluation, anti-fraud services and other data products, while additionally providing credit assessment and online loan management tools for banks and other lenders.
With a Series A funding round, the company has achieved a target of $16 million approx., with the closing of last year’s performance. The funding venture was led by the Chinese firm, China Creation Ventures. Others who participated in the process included Lingfen Capital and angel investors YunQi Partners.
IceKredit will now focus on its forthcoming services of third-party risk management solutions which will enable traditional financial institutions to remain compliant with shifting credit risk control rules and for providing lenders with loan management solutions.
W2 GLOBAL DATA – SaaS
To focus on its funding requirements for sales, marketing and technical capabilities for its UK and international operations, W2 Global Data landed a Series A funding move, this week.
The business of the Company is to provide Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and other data solutions to B2B segment. The Company said that Mercia Fund Management made a single largest growth fund investment into the company for its forthcoming expansion. The other entities that participated in the funding were Finance Wales, existing shareholders and Thorium Technology Investors.
As the CEO of W2 Global Data put it, “W2 has grown from strength to strength in the last few years, and this investment will allow our business to establish its position as a key world player in the field. We have a rapidly growing customer base, and we can support them with an expanding team creating job opportunities in the local area and further afield.”
POWER3SME – Honourable Mentions
There’s another story which calls for special mention as we broach the subject of funding snd finance.
Not exactly into a venture capital assignment though, Power2SME also managed a sizeable investment commitment from the private-sector investment arm of the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation.
IFC will invest up to $10 million in the Power2SME holding company, BEBB India.
The new funding intake will propel the Company’s SME B2B e-Commerce platform, which raised Series A funding in October 2012 and more funding a year later.
It was also learnt that in 2016, the Company sourced an undisclosed amount of investment from Infosys Co-Founder, Nandan Nilekani.
YL VENTURES
The B2B SaaS space is likely to see another funding activity recorded as YLVentures raised $75 million for its third round of funding. Concluded this week, the funding will bankroll the activities of the Company as the main fund provider for start-ups in Israel with seed capital and said that it will look into the investment of two or three companies more, in the coming years.
