Supply Finance raises €4m to fund Europe expansion
SUPPLY Finance, a Dublin-based fintech company, has raised €4m in funding in Series A funding.
The company received investment from European and Asian venture capital firm Finch Capital, and US venture capital firm Fenway Summer Ventures.
Founded last year, Supply Finance provides trade finance products to small and medium businesses (SMEs) across Europe through a network of partner brands.
It said that it aims to expand access to working capital for SMEs in Europe through its technology, ready access to capital markets, and partnerships with experienced local operators.
“Europe’s small businesses are too often denied the fi- nancial tools enjoyed by large companies, a disadvantage resulting in slower growth,” Brian Norton, chief executive and co-founder of Supply Finance, said.
“We founded Supply to tip the scales back to even for SMEs.”
The company said that the capital raise will be used to fund the company’s expansion into at least three European markets, starting with Denmark.
As part of the announcement Supply Finance said that it has already completed its first partnership with a €1m investment in Omniveta, a Danish lender.
Through the Supply Finance partnership, Omniveta is expanding its base and upgrading its technology to provide an increasingly streamlined service to a larger set of customers, a statement from Supply Finance said.
In addition, Supply Finance assisted Omniveta in its recent closing of a €7.5m credit facility from Advance Global Capital, a London-based fund manager.
“This, coupled with the equity investment from Supply, will enable Omniveta to greatly expand its business in 2018 and beyond,” Mr Norton said.
Supply Finance was founded by Mr Norton, who was previously co-founder and chief executive of Future Finance, a European-wide student lending business that raised nearly
€200m in funding, and Jay Verjee, who has built three SMEs in the last five years.
The funding announcement comes during a busy period for Irish tech firms raising finance, with Dublin software firm Intercom officially becoming a tech unicorn (valued at over €1bn) last month, while a young Dublin tech company called Let’s Get Checked recently raised
€10m in a funding round.