End-Of-Summer Investments Keep B2B Startups Growing

With more than $83 million in venture capital and growth equity for B2B startups this week, the space is headed for a promising second half of the year. Investors spread out their support towards an array of verticals, too: B2B payments and trade financing, eProcurement software and cybersecurity nabbed the biggest deals of the week, while investors eyed startups across the U.S. and elsewhere. Check out where the money went.

B2B Payments

Behalf

Let’s start with the big news: Venture capitalists have yet again placed their financial support in a B2B payments startup, a rare feat that could be the sign of a trend this season. Startup Behalf announced a $27 million Series C funding round led by Viola Growth. The investment, announced on Tuesday (Aug. 30), also saw participation from existing backers Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, MissionOG and Vintage.

Behalf focuses on the cash flow friction that can emerge from buyers paying their suppliers via check, cash-on-delivery and ACH. The firm provides financing for businesses to pay their suppliers, meaning vendors get paid faster, while SME buyers can access financing Behalf said is rarely offered by banks. Sure, Behalf can be considered an alternative lender, but with its eye fixed on the B2B transaction, it’s worth a spot in this category.

eProcurement

Vroozi

From Los Angeles, Vroozi provides eProcurement Software-as-a-Service to corporate clients and now has $4 million in growth equity to support it. Ally Holdings provided the equity, which will be used to help the firm expand across the U.S. and into Europe, the company said on Monday (Aug. 29). In a statement, Vroozi said that demand for its procurement solutions continues to grow “exponentially.”

“In the last 12 months, we saw mid-market companies to Fortune 500 enterprises across different industries becoming Vroozi customers,” stated the firm’s CEO, Steve Olds.

Logistics

WING.ae

India tends to be the epicenter of logistics startups and VCs that support them, but the United Arab Emirates stole the spotlight this week with the funding of WING.ae. Reports on Tuesday said the UAE startup secured seed funding from eCommerce site Souq.com, though the firms didn’t say how much was raised.

WING.ae offers businesses a way to manage deliveries and payments for those deliveries, on top of its B2C offering of allowing customers to compare delivery carrier offerings. Souq said it became interested in WING.ae because it helps Souq grow its own business without having to place resources in expanding its own logistics fleet.

Enterprise Security

LogRhythm

Nabbing the largest investment of the week, LogRhythm announced $50 million led by Riverwood Capital, Adams Street Partners, Siemens Venture Capital, Delta-v Capital and members of the company’s own management team.

Several other backers participated as well, reports said.

LogRhythm provides security intelligence and analytics solutions to organizations that need to identify, mitigate and protect against cybersecurity threats. In a statement, Andy Grolnick, president and CEO of the company, said the firm is “in the early stages of a fundamental market shift.”

“Organizations around the world recognize that advanced detection and response capabilities need to be at the core of their cybersecurity strategies, and IT security budgets continue to shift in this direction from a traditionally prevention-centric set of priorities,” he stated.

Software-as-a-Service

Cropin

India’s Cropin saw a $2 million investment from Sophia Investment ApS, based in Denmark, an unnamed source revealed to reporters this week. Cropin provides management software and applications to farms and agriculture businesses, and with the new funding, the company will reportedly look to develop solutions that enable real-time monitoring of farm operations. The funding marks the first India investment for Sophia Investment, reports said.