US-based business financing provider BlueVine received almost $103m in series F funding from investors including insurance firm Nationwide, software provider Microsoft and financial services firms Citi and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group yesterday.
ION Crossover Partners led the round, which included its parent company, asset manager ION Group, as well as Lightspeed Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, 83North, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB)’s SVB Capital unit, OG Tech, Vintage Investment Partners, Maor Investments and unnamed private backers.
Microsoft, Citi and Mitsubishi UFJ invested through M12, Citi Ventures and MUFG Innovation Partners respectively. FT Partners advised BlueVine on the round, which took the company’s overall equity funding to $288m since it was founded in 2013.
BlueVine lends money to small businesses, providing term loans, credit lines and invoice factoring. It partners Celtic Bank on loan and credit products and Bancorp Bank for bank account services.
The capital will go to further development of an end-to-end banking platform the company recently launched which combines a checking account with a range of financial products for businesses.
Eyal Lifshitz, BlueVine’s co-founder and CEO, said: “The recent launch of BlueVine Checking demonstrates our commitment to revolutionise banking for small business owners with a full suite of services designed specifically to meet their unique needs.
“This funding further validates our mission and will help democratise true business-grade banking for small businesses who have been underserved for so long.”
The round comes after BlueVine closed a $72m series E round in August 2018 featuring M12, Nationwide subsidiary Nationwide Ventures, Menlo Ventures, SVB Capital and all the company’s significant existing backers.
Citi Ventures joined e-commerce firm Rakuten’s FinTech Fund, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, 83North and SVB to provide $49m in series D funding for BlueVine
Menlo Ventures had led BlueVine’s $40m series C round in 2016, investing together with Rakuten FinTech Fund and existing backers Lightspeed Venture Partners, 83North and Correlation Ventures and SVB, which supplied debt financing.
