Crowdz, an invoice financing platform for SMEs, has raised $25.5 million in funding led by Citi and Global Cleantech Capital. Existing investors Bold Capital Partners, TFX Ventures, and Augment Ventures also participated.
Crowdz is an alternative financing solution for SMEs that frequently struggle to obtain traditional bank financing. Its technology enables small businesses to sell invoices to funders for financing gaining access to working capital.
Crowdz integrates directly with SMEs’ accounting, payment processing, and banking systems to allow SMEs to get paid early at competitive rates.
Crowdz and Citi are expected to collaborate to provide SMEs rapid access to the working capital as part of a push to offer inclusive financial services.
Citi joins a growing list of corporate entities partnered with Crowdz, including Meta (formerly Facebook) and EG Funds Management. Meta has committed $100 million to finance diverse-owned businesses in the US. Some clients are utilizing a white-labeled iteration of the Crowdz platform to provide access to working capital.
Payson E. Johnston, CEO and co-founder of Crowdz, said the planned collaboration with Citi, paired with this investment from our partners signifies a new phase of growth for the company.
“We share Citi’s view of recurring revenue as having the potential to become a new asset class, and Crowdz’s technology including a global receivables marketplace with risk scoring, white label for enterprises and banks, and creation of digital assets will help enable additional investment in this area.”
Katya Chupryna, Citi, Head of SPRINT – the Citi team that lead the investment, said they are particularly excited about the burgeoning asset class of SaaS receivables.