Brazilian Receivables Marketplace Monkey Exchange Raises $11 Million

Brazilian online marketplace Monkey Exchange has reportedly raised $11 million in new funding.

As The Brazil Journal reported, the financing comes at a pivotal moment for the company, whose marketplace anticipates receivables from suppliers of large companies.

New regulations, the report said, are expected to lead to a fivefold increase in the market for so-called “advance duplicates,” thus expanding Monkey Exchange’s potential audience.

Essentially, the report said, the written duplicate will replace the commercial duplicate, which needs to be registered with a notary to be used as a credit guarantee tool.

“With the new regulation, this process will be digitalized,” said Bruno Oliveira, chief operating officer and co-founder of Monkey Exchange.

“Any company that has issued an invoice will be able to transform it into a financial asset. It will be enough to register it and then use it as a credit guarantee through the registers.”

The report noted that the company’s marketplace is already doing this, but in a fashion that’s confined solely to its customer ecosystem.

“Since we only anticipate duplicate invoices from our clients’ suppliers, who are large companies, we can have this guarantee of their validity,” Oliveira said. “But with the notarized duplicate invoice, this will be extended to the market as a whole, creating a huge opportunity.”

The company’s funding comes amid a period of — as PYMNTS wrote Sunday (Aug. 4) — robust demand for working capital, especially from what might be termed non-traditional providers such as Block and PayPal.

According to the PYMNTS Intelligence report “Main Street Small Business Growth Exceeds GDP for First Time in Two Years,” Main Street small to medium-sized business (SMB) growth has surpassed gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the first time in two years. This expansion would fuel plans to access working capital to keep expanding.

Block, parent company of Square, said in its earnings presentation last week that there is a $17 billion “gross profit” opportunity for Square Loans, its business lending product.

And PayPal CEO Alex Chriss noted on an earnings conference call that small businesses represent an “untapped opportunity” for the firm. With the debut of the company’s Complete Payments Platform, he said, “you get access to our working capital,” as well as other offerings such as payouts.