Balance, which claims to be the leader in B2B marketplace and eCommerce payments, announced a $56 million Series B fundraise, “bringing the company’s total funding to $87M.” The round was “led by Forerunner Ventures with support from Salesforce Ventures.”
Hubspot Ventures, Lyra Ventures, and Gramercy Ventures. Notable leaders in B2B eCommerce also participated in the investment round “as angel investors, including former Shopify CMO Jeff Wisener, Faire CTO & co-founder Marcelo Cortes, as well as previous investors Ribbit Capital, Lightspeed Ventures, Avid Ventures, Upwest and Jibe.”
Balance will use this funding “to expand its offerings to new, global eCommerce platforms and enable B2B merchants to grow their digital revenue.”
Since launching in February 2021, Balance has “supported hundreds of B2B merchants and marketplaces, growing its customer base by 10x.”
The company has “ushered centuries-old industries online like lumber, chemicals, steel, retail and food.”
These reportedly “include MaterialsXchange, a marketplace for buying and selling lumber and panels; ChemDirect, a marketplace for companies that need on-demand chemical supplies; Abound, a wholesale marketplace for retail; and notch, an ordering platform for restaurants and distributors.”
Bar Geron, CEO and co-founder of Balance, said:
“From my time at PayPal, I realized no one was tapping into the opportunity to unlock the potential of B2B eCommerce and marketplaces payments. We’ve entered the fourth ‘Industrial Revolution’ that will take global trade online, creating a truly efficient market. Balance is bringing centuries-old systems into the modern-age through the power of digitization.”
While B2B payment volume “is 5x the size of B2C retail payments, only 7% of B2B commerce is transacted online.”
Balance aims to “replace the outdated method of B2B payments with a self-serve, online experience that closely resembles B2C.”
With Balance’s suite of tools, companies can “process any payment method, offer flexible net terms financing, and get paid instantly — all in one online platform.” Buyers “have the flexibility to pay like they would on a consumer website, transacting in a few clicks.”
Kirsten Green, Founder & Managing Partner at Forerunner, said:
“For years, the consumer has led the charge in modernizing how we transact, but innovation in B2B commerce has lagged far behind the B2C space. There is incredible potential to modernize wide-ranging aspects of how B2B commerce is conducted in the digital age, and the market opportunity is enormous–only 7% of the $120T B2B payment volume is conducted digitally today. We are thrilled to partner with Bar and the team at Balance as they work to accelerate the transformation of this industry.”
By 2025, it’s estimated “that 30% of all global economic activity will shift to eCommerce, up from 5% today.”
Balance’s mission is “to fully digitize B2B trade by bringing business payments and financing solutions online, reducing friction in the buying process.” Balance increases “access to goods, while simultaneously reducing costs for businesses as well as consumers.”