Barclays and Santander InnoVentures have led a £26 million Series B funding round in online invoice financing platform MarketInvoice.
The round was joined by venture fund Northzone and technology credit fund Viola Credit, which will also provide MarketInvoice a debt facility of up to £30 million.
Since 2011, MarketInvoice has funded invoices and business loans to UK companies worth more than £2 billion, making it Europe’s largest online invoice finance platform. The firm claims to have supported thousands of companies, funding over 170,000 invoices.
Last August, announcing plans to invest in the firm, Barclays said it would become the first high street bank to enter into a strategic partnership with MarketInvoice, rolling out the service to its large SME client base.
Ian Rand, CEO, Barclays Business Bank, says: “Collaborating with fintech companies like MarketInvoice is an integral part of Barclays’ strategy for accelerating growth. This investment demonstrates our commitment to the partnership we announced last summer which offers hundreds of thousands of our SME clients access to even more innovative forms of finance, boosting cash flow and competition in the market."
The new funding will be used to build more partnerships, make hires and create cross-border fintech-bank alliances to support more businesses.
Anil Stocker, CEO, MarketInvoice, says: "We’re excited to develop our finance solutions further and become the trusted funding partner for ambitious entrepreneurs. By collaborating with bank partners, we will be reaching many thousands of companies here in the UK and abroad to provide them with their business finance needs. We aim to invest in technology, data and strategic partnerships, to take MarketInvoice to the next level.”