SoftBank Vision Fund, the $98.6bn investment vehicle formed by internet and telecommunications group SoftBank, supplied $655m of funding for UK-based business finance provider Greensill yesterday.
The deal valued Greensill at almost $4bn according to City AM and it comes in the wake of an $800m investment by SoftBank Vision Fund in May this year at a $3.5bn valuation.
Greensill extends working capital and supply chain finance to businesses, tapping capital markets to access the money as opposed to lending off its own balance sheet. It has provided $150bn of financing this year and will spend part of the new funding on international growth.
The Vision Fund investment was disclosed alongside Greensill’s acquisition of FreeUp, a UK-based developer of technology that enables workers to receive wages for work they have done before their employers would have ordinarily paid them.
Lex Greensill, founder and CEO of Greensill, said: “With the IP we are acquiring from FreeUp along with our own technology and expertise, our global network of clients and the financial support of SoftBank Investment Advisers, manager of the SoftBank Vision Fund, we see the potential to revolutionise the way workers are paid around the world.
“Why shouldn’t they get paid as soon as they earn a salary, rather than waiting to be paid weekly, fortnightly or monthly? Especially when this will not cost the employee anything.”
The company had previously received $250m in funding from growth equity firm General Atlantic at a $1.64bn valuation in a July 2018 deal that represented its first institutional investment.
