Fundbox

Fundbox
Founded January 2013
Founder Eyal Shinar, Tomer Michaeli, Yuval Ariav
Headquarters San Francisco, California
Website fundbox.com

Fundbox is a technology company based in San Francisco. Founded in 2013, the service uses big data analytics, engineering, and predictive modeling to help optimize cash flow for small businesses and freelancers with outstanding invoices. The organization has received funding from venture capital firms such as General Catalyst Partners, Khosla Ventures, Blumberg Capital, and NyCa Investment Partners. As of 2015, the company had raised a total of $107.5 million in funding from 11 investors.

History

The concept for Fundbox was partially inspired by CEO and co-founder Eyal Shinar's mother, who struggled with late payments at the employment agency she owned and operated in Israel.[1] The company was officially launched in April 2013 by Yuval Ariav, Eyal Shinar, and Tomer Michaeli.[2] After operating for approximately one year in stealth mode, the service became available to the public in April 2014.[2]

Since the organization's launch, tens of thousands of businesses have connected to the Fundbox platform.[2]

Funding

Fundbox emerged from a stealth operations mode in April 2014 and announced it had raised a $17.5 million Series A investment round.[3][4] Khosla Ventures led the round with support from SV Angel, Vikram Pandit, Tom Glocer, as well as other individual investors.[5][6][7]

In March 2015 the company closed a Series B funding round of $40 million.[8] The round was led by General Catalyst Partners with additional support from NyCa Investment Partners. Previous backers, such as Khosla Ventures, Shlomo Kramer, and Blumberg Capital, also participated in the financing round.[1][9]

Services

Fundbox's primary offering is a cash flow optimization tool that advances money against a company's outstanding invoices.[10] The advances are intended for use by small businesses in the business-to-business space seeking to optimize cash flow and continue to successfully run their businesses while waiting for accounts receivable invoices to be paid.[2][11] This enhancement in cash flow is intended to help companies maintain consistent operations and streamline capital for expenses like new equipment or payroll.[10]

Use

To establish a Fundbox account, users are required to link their accounting platforms with Fundbox.[3] There is no fee for this registration, connection, and approval process.[3] Fundbox then uses data analytics tools such as data science engines and machine learning algorithms to determine a credit line and to calculate the risk of each invoice.[3] A typical credit line can vary between $1,000 and $25,000.[10] Before clearing an invoice, Fundbox customers can see the fee for each invoice, which is based on the risk and probability of repayment.[4][12]

Once an invoice is cleared, funds are deposited directly into the customer's bank account between 24 and 48 hours.[2][13]

Repayment

The Fundbox repayment plan is 12 weeks. Repayment is completed through weekly payments that are automatically debited from a customer's bank account.[10]

Each weekly payment includes one-twelfth of the principal and one-twelfth of the fee. If a user pays back the advance before the 12-week period has elapsed, Fundbox will waive the remaining fees.[10] The company's website features a calculator to estimate the cost of each advance.[13]

External links

References

  1. 1 2 Lapowsky, Issie (March 19, 2015). "Startup Raises $40M to Keep Small Businesses' Cash Flowing". WIRED. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Magee, Christine. "Fundbox Raises $40 Million To Pay Invoices On Demand". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Wienglass, Simona. "Clients won't pay promptly? Fundbox uses machine learning to advance you cash". Geektime. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  4. 1 2 Goodman, Michelle (December 8, 2014). "This Startup Bridges Cash Flow Gaps, One Invoice at a Time". Entrepreneur. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  5. ↑ Rao, Leena (April 10, 2014). "Lending Startup Fundbox Raises $17.5M From Khosla To Help SMBs Improve Cash Flow". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  6. ↑ Novet, Jordan (April 10, 2014). "Fundbox gets $17.5M to give small businesses money when they need it". VentureBeat. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  7. ↑ Abruzzese, Jason (April 10, 2014). "Fundbox Looks to Streamline the $74 Trillion B2B Invoice Market". Mashable. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  8. ↑ Billings, Mike. "The Daily Startup: Fundbox's Funding is Latest in Short-Term Lending Sector". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  9. ↑ Holley, David (March 19, 2015). "Fundbox Clinches $40M Series B for Short-Term Lending Product". Xconomy. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Cowley, Stacy. "Online Lenders Offer a Faster Lifeline for Small Businesses". The New York Times. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  11. ↑ Slade, Hollie (April 10, 2014). "Fundbox Raises $17.5M Series A To Bridge Gap Between Invoices For B2B". Forbes. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  12. ↑ Panagiotis, Semitekolos. "How Fundbox is Changing Small Business Financing". Startup Hook. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  13. 1 2 Sophy, Joshua (March 26, 2015). "Fundbox Provides Options to Borrow on Unpaid Invoices". Small Business Trends. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
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