Fundbox raises $100M to fuel strong growth and bolster its SMB proposition

The news: The US-based SMB platform is now valued at $1.1 billion, up from $700 million following its Series C raise in 2019.

More on Fundbox: The fintech offers credit, payments, and cash flow management to more than 300,000 SMBs. This year, it surpassed $100 million in annual revenue run rate and grew its customer acquisition by 200%.

• Fundbox focuses primarily on B2B SMBs and offers access to up to $150,000 in term loans and lines of credit. These funds are particularly valuable to B2B businesses that wait much longer to be paid for their services than their B2C counterparts.
• It also lets SMBs connect their various bank accounts in one place and delivers insights such as cash flow predictions. Fundbox further integrates with other platforms like accounting software companies QuickBooks and Intuit.
• And Fundbox continues to bolster its offering: The fintech recently rolled out Flex Pay, which lets customers cover business expenses with a three-day fee-free grace period for repayment. Looking ahead, it plans to expand both its staff numbers and product range.

The bigger picture: SMB-focused fintechs are scrambling to rebundle services and become one-stop shops for their customers’ financial needs.

• The pandemic created significant opportunities for fintechs that serve SMBs by forcing many small businesses to speed up digitization and seek capital to stay afloat. Both these developments led many of them to the doors of SMB-focused fintechs.
• But as opportunity increases, so does competition. And to win customers’ hearts, fintechs moved fast this year to add more services. SMB credit card fintech Brex, for example, revealed a dashboard that houses solutions like bill pay and spend management in April and launched a lending product in August. And SMB lender Kabbage moved into neobank territory with a high-yield checking account.