B2B Finance As A Service Tops This Week’s VC List

The big B2B venture capital news of the week was Augmentum Fintech’s trio of investments, signaling the company’s focus on the B2B FinTech market — but it wasn’t the only firm targeting this startup space. Investors also took a liking to accounting technology, alternative small business finance and eProcurement, with B2B FinTech startups raising more than $107 million in all. Following, PYMNTS breaks down the latest investment rounds of the sector.

Consero Global

Based in Austin, Consero provides businesses with a Finance as a Service suite of solutions: outsourced CFO and bookkeeping services, combined with its financial management platform SIMPL. The company secured $50 million in private equity funding from BV Investment Partners, Built In Austin said this week. The new funding will be used to perpetuate Consero’s existing goals of growth and market traction, with the company planning to focus on automation initiatives. The company also plans to grow its staff, focus on product enhancement, and explore acquisition opportunities. According to reports, Consero targets mid-market companies and has gained traction among the private equity space.

Tide

U.K. challenger bank Tide raised $10.25 million this week with fundraising led by Augmentum Fintech. When announcing the new funding, Tide also welcomed its new CEO, Oliver Prill, the former COO of Kreditech. Tide focuses on small and medium-sized businesses, providing banking and payment products in addition to invoice and bookkeeping solutions as it competes with larger, traditional financial institutions. Reports did not reveal what Tide plans to do with the funding.

Previse

Augmentum Fintech announced its investment in Tide at the same time it revealed two other B2B FinTech targets. The firm also invested in B2B payments company Previse, providing $2.6 million to the company that deploys machine learning to accelerate supplier payments in the accounts payable department. In all, Previse raised $6.8 million in Series A funding, which also saw Bessemer Venture Partners and Hambro Perks as backers.

DueDil

The third investment from Augmentum went to DueDil, which raised $10.2 million in Series C funding — $2.6 million of which was provided by Augmentum. The company, based in the U.K., aggregates data across enterprise systems to identify risks and ensure compliance. Oak Investment Partners, Notion Capital and VentureFounders also participated in the round. The funds raised will go towards enhancing DueDil’s underlying technology, reports said.

Spocket

Spocket is a startup that has its hands in the B2C commerce world and addresses friction in the market, helping online retailers sell suppliers’ goods, pay those vendors, and manage back-office processes associated with the buyer-supplier relationship. Investors at 7 Gate Ventures, Minstral Venture Partners, Panache Ventures and Plug and Play Ventures invested $1.5 million in the company, according to BetaKit reports, which will go towards expanding its staff, growing its platform, and investing in marketing efforts. The company enables businesses to sell suppliers’ items even without purchasing them first. Retailers using the Spocket platform can browse products, provide branded invoicing and obtain discounts on their purchases, even if they don’t buy items in bulk.

OfBusiness

India’s OfBusiness raised about $29 million in Series C funding, according to an announcement this week, led by Creation Investments and Falcon Edge. Existing backers Matrix Partners India and Zodius Capital also participated. OfBusiness operates a small business funding platform, offering borrowers both short- and long-term financing products and access to institutional credit. OfBusiness is the brand name of NBFC Oxyzo Financial Services, which is registered with the Reserve Bank of India. The company plans to use the funds to continue focusing on growth and scaling.