Wayflyer, the Ireland-based operator of an online financing platform for e-commerce brands, raised $150m yesterday in a series B round featuring internet group Prosus at a post-money valuation of $1.6bn.
The round was co-led by DST Global and QED Investors, while investment bank JP Morgan, Left Lane Capital, Madrone Capital Partners and private investor Guillaume Pousaz also took part. Prosus participated through its corporate venturing unit, Prosus Ventures.
Founded in early 2020, Wayflyer has developed a product that provides non-dilutive financing to e-commerce businesses, with a system of repayments based on their revenue activity determined using big data analytics. Its loans typically range between $10,000 and $20m in size.
The company has experienced a 900% growth in cash advances year on year, and plans to use the proceeds from the latest round to provide more capital for clients and fuel expansion in markets including the United States and Europe as well as entering Asia.
The global retail e-commerce market was sized at approximately $4.9 trillion in 2021 and is forecasted to grow to about $7.4 trillion by 2025, according to market data provider Statista.
Wayflyer secured $76m in a May 2021 series A round led by Left Lane Capital that included DST Global, QED Investors, Speedinvest and Zinal Growth, extending its debt facilities by $100m at the same time.
QED Investors had previously led the company’s $10.2m seed round in October 2020 with participation from Middlegame Venture, Speedinvest and FGFE.
Prosus Ventures’ head of investments for Europe, Sandeep Bakshi, said: “The pandemic has accelerated e-commerce adoption globally and Wayflyer is transforming financial services for e-commerce businesses wanting to scale quickly, helping them to gain access to capital, inventory and insights at attractive terms.
Wayflyer’s business model is becoming increasingly popular, with some competitors also raising substantial capital in recent months.
E-commerce finance provider Clearco hauled in $215m through a July 2021 round led by internet and telecommunications group SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2. Uncapped, a revenue-based business finance provider that offers capital to startups and is repaid with a portion of future revenues, had raised $80m in equity and debt financing two months earlier.
