US-based working capital marketplace operator C2FO secured $200m yesterday in a round led by SoftBank Vision Fund, the investment vehicle managed by telecommunications conglomerate SoftBank.
Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek and venture capital firm Union Square Ventures (USV) also contributed capital to the round, as did Allianz X, the digital investment arm of insurer Allianz, Mubadala Investment Company and Mithril Capital according to Bloomberg.
Founded in 2010, C2FO has built an online marketplace that lets businesses secure short-term working capital. Clients enter their desired amount and the platform automatically matches them with available sources of financing in real time, offering discounts for early repayments.
C2FO will use its latest round to accelerate international expansion plans and to improve its offering both for small and medium-sized enterprises and for large multinational corporations.
The company has processed more than $1.2 trillion in accounts receivable and payable to date, averaging more than $1bn in transactions per week. It has served more than 300,000 businesses across 173 countries so far.
Nahoko Hoshino, investment vice-president at SoftBank Investment Advisers, which manages the Vision Fund, will join the C2FO board of directors in connection with its investment. C2FO has now raised approximately $400m to date, according to press statements and regulatory documents.
The company raised $100m in a March 2018 round co-led by Allianz X and Mubadala, which functions as Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, and backed by Temasek, USV and Mithril Capital.
Citi Ventures, the strategic investment subsidiary of financial services provider Citi, invested an undisclosed sum in 2016 to help close a $43m round where $40m had come from Temasek, USV, Mithril, Summerhill Venture Partners, OpenAir Equity Partners and Tiger Global Management in a first tranche the previous year.
