Behalf Secures $150 Million in Debt Capital
Behalf, the New York City-based alternative business loan company, obtained $150 million in debt financing this week from a private investment fund managed by Soros Fund Management LLC. Viola Credit also participated in the debt financing.
“This is a significant step forward for Behalf. This funding allows us to expand our fast-growing e-commerce B2B financing platform and enhance our ability to provide the best business terms to customers, in a fraction of the time of a traditional business lender,” said founder and CEO of Behalf, Benjy Feinberg.
The company, founded in 2012, initially started doing MCA only and is now transitioning to offer loans, according to Feinberg.
Behalf’s business model works in the same way as a credit card. The small business customer doesn’t receive money from Behalf. Instead, Behalf pays the vendor of its small business customer directly, and then the customer pays Behalf. Customers pay different rates depending on their risk profile.
As an analogy for the business model, Feinberg told deBanked: “If you give a kid $50,000, he could go to Vegas. If you give the college $50,000, the kid goes and gets an education.”
With Behalf’s transition into loans, the company partnered with FinWise Bank, a Utah-chartered bank, in August of last year. Behalf, which also has an office in Tel Aviv, has a virtual MasterCard feature that allows its customers to use their Behalf credit line to fund purchases across the MasterCard network.
The company has a total headcount of about 90 between its two offices, according to Feinberg.
Last modified: February 9, 2018
Todd Stone was a reporter for deBanked.
