Valuation at USD 640 Million
BNPL Specialist Billie Raises $100 Million in Funding
Berlin, October 25th, 2021 — Billie, the leading provider of “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) payment methods for businesses, announced a successful Series C funding round of $100 million today. As a result the fintech’s valuation increases to $640 million and has nearly quadrupled since the last funding round.
The round was led by Dawn Capital, Europe’s leading B2B investor whose fintech portfolio includes category-leaders Tink, iZettle, Soldo and Copper. Also joining the round are B2C payments giant Klarna and Tencent, alongside existing investors Creandum, Speedinvest, Picus and GFC. The funding round is the world’s largest to date in the B2B BNPL market.
In addition to its equity funding, Billie has secured refinancing lines of $200 million per month. The capital will be provided by a consortium of German banks led by VVRB (Vereinigte Volksbank Raiffeisenbank eG) with participation from Raisin Bank and Varengold Bank.
“As a specialist B2B investor with a deep fintech focus, we’ve been closely following Billie and the evolution of the B2B BNPL market. Over the last few years, we’ve built a trusted relationship with Matthias, Christian and Aiga, impressed by the clarity of their vision, rapid growth and deep experience not only in B2B payments but in the wider risk and regulatory landscape too. We are confident they are well on the way to revolutionising the B2B payments market and excited to join them on the journey ahead.” says Josh Bell, General Partner at Dawn Capital.
In line with the company vision, Billie will use the new investment for its international expansion, as well as significantly expand its technical integration with Klarna and other strategic partners. In addition, the company plans to enhance its B2B BNPL product—Billie Boost. With B2B features such as longer payment deadlines, installments, special offers for B2B marketplaces, e-invoicing and more to be added to the product.
BNPL has radically changed the payment behavior in e-commerce in the last couple of years. Consumers pay easily and conveniently, when and how they want. Today, B2B buyers from larger companies to individual retailers are going “digital-first” and are already used to automated and frictionless processes in the B2C space. They also expect to see modern user interfaces, high limits for shopping carts, as well as real-time decisions for B2B. However, “Buy Now, Pay Later” for business customers, is still at a very early stage, and worldwide, there is nearly no provider of a BNPL product like what Klarna offers for B2C. We aim to close this gap, and we are happy to have gained strong partners in Dawn Capital, Klarna and Tencent to establish BNPL as the leading payment method for business customers,” says Dr. Matthias Knecht, co-founder and co-CEO of Billie.
We have known Matthias and the Billie team for some time, and are impressed by their mission to offer frictionless B2B payments to merchants and businesses across the world. BNPL for B2B is still in its infancy phase—even though the demand has never been higher. We are here to solve problems and by being able to offer this service to our merchant partners together with Billie, we are doing just that. Something we also underline with our investment in Billie,” says Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO and Co-Founder at Klarna.
About Billie: Billie is the leading provider of “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) payment methods for businesses, offering B2B companies innovative digital payment services. Founded in Berlin, the fintech enables companies to pay and get paid on their own terms simply and easily through modern checkout solutions. Based on proprietary, machine-learning-supported risk models, fully digitized processes and a highly scalable tech platform, Billie offers freedom to big and small businesses alike through fast liquidity, automated workflows and access to modern payment solutions. Billie was founded in 2016 by the former founders of Zencap (Exit to Funding Circle). Billie is based in Berlin and employs over 130 people from over 35 countries. Investors include Creandum, Picus and SpeedInvest, among others. For more information, visit billie.io.
About Klarna: We make shopping smooth. With Klarna consumers can buy now and pay later, so they can get what they love today. Klarna’s offering to consumers and retailers include payments, social shopping, and personal finances. Over 250,000 retail partners, including H&M, IKEA, Expedia Group, Samsung, ASOS, Peloton, Abercrombie & Fitch, Nike and AliExpress have enabled Klarna’s innovative shopping experience online and in-store. Klarna is one of the most highly valued private fintechs globally with a valuation of $45.6 billion. Klarna was founded in 2005, has over 4,000 employees and is active in 17 countries. For more information, visit Klarna.com.
About Dawn Capital: Dawn is Europe’s leading specialist B2B software investor, with assets under management of $1.5bn. The firm partners with innovative companies that, through exceptional teams, products, and business models can become category-defining, global titans. Dawn is an early-stage investor, backing companies at Series A and B, and continuing to fund the best-performing from growth rounds through to exit. Its roster of investments includes Mimecast (now NASDAQ-listed with a $4.0bn market cap), iZettle (sold to PayPal for $2.2bn), Tink (acquired by Visa for $2.2bn), Collibra, Dataiku, Quantexa, Soldo, Copper and Firebolt, amongst others. Read more at dawncapital.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.