Industry News
Irish E-commerce Revenue-Based Funder Raises $76 Million Series A After First Year
May 27, 2021
An Irish revenue-based e-commerce financing platform called Wayflyer raised $76 million in a funding Series A round this past week. It has been a roaring first year for the small fintech, so far funding $150 million to online merchants. The firm just launched its cash advance product 14 months ago and raised $10.2M in a seed round only six months ago.
Wayflyer offers e-commerce sales-based funding, without the need for collateral, from $10k up to $20M. They partner with firms across the UK, including a recent deal with the international athleisure brand Gym+Coffee.
Left Lane Capital led the round with investments from DST Global, QED Investors, Speedinvest, and Zinal Growth. The successful funding comes after the firm widened its credit facility by $100M to keep up with the demand for capital and a partnership announcement with Adobe Commerce.
The cofounders, Aidan Corbett and Jack Pierse came together in 2019. Back then, Corbett led an online marketing analytics firm called Conjura when Pierse, a former venture capitalist, proposed using analytic tech to underwrite what amounts to digital MCAs.
“Jack came to me and said, ‘You should stop using our marketing analytics engine to do these big enterprise SaaS solutions, and instead use them to underwrite e-commerce businesses for short-term finance,'” Corbett told Tech Crunch. “We just had our heads down and started repurposing the platform for it to be an underwriting platform.”
Launching in April 2020, Wayflyer funded $600,000 in the first month. In March of 2021 alone, the firm did about $36 million in advances.
“So, it’s been a pretty aggressive kind of growth,” Corbett said.
deBanked to Livestream from the SEAA Show in Bonita Springs
May 21, 2021May 24th LIVE schedule: 4:45pm – 6:30pm
May 25th LIVE schedule: 9:00 – 10:45am, 3:00 – 4:00pm, 5:00 – 6:30pm
deBanked will be streaming live from the Southeast Acquirers Association conference on May 24th and 25th in Bonita Springs, FL. The payments show celebrating its 20th anniversary is expected to have nearly 800 people IN PERSON.
The livestream will be available at scheduled times at deBanked.com/tv/. We will be speaking with executives across the payments and small business finance industries.
Vaccinated New Yorkers No Longer Have to Wear Masks
May 19, 2021Vaccinated New Yorkers are back, maskless, at 100% capacity. Governor Cuomo went live from Radio City Music hall for a press conference and Twitter announcement to outline the specifics.
“Effective this Wednesday, we’re going to adopt the CDC guidelines and regulations on masks and social distance,” Cuomo said. “If you are vaccinated, you are safe. No masks, no social distancing.”
Effective Wednesday, NYS will adopt the CDC's new mask & social distancing guidance for vaccinated people.
Unvaccinated people should continue to wear a mask.
Masks will still be required on public transit, in schools & some communal settings. Private venues may require masks.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) May 17, 2021
The new guidelines said you still need to wear a mask on public transportation, on the subways, buses, healthcare facilities, and schools, in nursing homes, homeless shelters, and correctional facilities. Private businesses will still be able to set their own restrictions like no mask, no entry.
“Individual private venues have the ability to add additional guidelines to the state and CDC,” Cuomo said. “For our part, we’re adopting the CDC and saying ‘lets open.'”
Many chains, from Starbucks to CVS, are already welcoming the maskless vaccinated with open arms. The outdoor food and beverage curfew is gone, while the indoor will remain until May 31st.
“Over half the population is fully vaccinated now, but we have more work to do on vaccinations,” Cuomo said. “We have to get back to life, and living, and do it the way New Yorkers do it. We have to do it quickly and robustly.”
17.6 million doses of vaccine have been doled out to New Yorkers. 52.2% of the population over 18 are fully vaccinated, and 61.8% of the over 18 crowds have at least one shot in the arm. The average number of deaths a day from covid is below 20, dropping to just 11 on Monday. With numbers like that, anyone with a vaccine will be free from wearing a mask from now on. Social distancing, inside or outside, is ending. The 50% caps on dining, gyms, and other indoor activities, are also going away.
To prove vaccination at the door, the state created Excelsior Pass- a free mobile app that lets users connect their vaccine to a scannable QR code. Users have to first register their vaccine on the Excelsior website and can use the app to show negative PCR test results.
Broker Fair 2021 is BACK – December 6 in NYC
May 17, 2021
Broker Fair returns to New York City in person on December 6, 2021 at Convene at Brookfield Place!
As previously announced, tickets that were purchased for Broker Fair 2020 have simply carried over to Broker Fair 2021. That means you might already be registered! You can confirm by emailing events@debanked.com.
Broker Fair is the largest annual conference for brokers in the commercial finance industry. Business loans, merchant cash advance, factoring, leasing, SBA, real estate, and more will be incorporated into the full-day lineup. Sponsorships are almost entirely sold out.
If you’ve been following along, New York City is already roaring back. Most capacity restrictions are scheduled to be lifted this week on May 19th.
We’ll see you there!
IOU Financial Posts 2020 Results
April 29, 2021
IOU Financial filed their full-year 2020 financial results, boasting a total of $84.9 million in originations. Though at a $3.2 million net loss and decrease of 45% in originations from 2019, IOU representatives attest the firm weathered the worst of the pandemic and has left the other side prepared to take part in fueling “the recovery ahead.”
Shares of IOU are trading at about 8 cents, creating a market cap of just under $10 million. In 2020, Neuberger Berman acquired a significant stake in the company and agreed to purchase up to $150M in loans a year over two years. Founder and CEO Phil Marleau will transition into an advisory role on June 10th, replaced by Robert Gloer, COO.
“Robert and I have worked side-by-side since the Company was founded,” said Marleau. “Together, we underwrote our first small business loan in December 2009 and have since originated nearly US$1 billion in loans. IOU’s resilience and success are a direct result of the team’s considerable efforts over the past decade – a team that Robert and I have built and led. I look forward to continuing our partnership in an advisory capacity and as Director.”
IOU Financial Funded $12.1M in March
April 8, 2021
IOU Financial originated $12.1M in funding to small businesses last month, the company revealed. It was IOU’s biggest loan volume month since the beginning of the pandemic.
The figure was included in an announcement regarding the company’s intention to repurchase up to $2M of Convertible Debentures.
“The move to repurchase corporate debt comes after a year of strategic initiatives as part of IOU’s Pandemic Resilience Plan that focused on reducing corporate expenses while reaffirming commitments from its diverse portfolio of funding sources and capitalizing on new opportunities to continue to support small businesses in 2020,” IOU said.
“IOU’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 (‘Pandemic Resilience Plan’) put the Company in a position of strength to consolidate its stake in developing the opportunities ahead,” said Phil Marleau, CEO. “We are proud to be able to stand with our network of brokers and small business owners as we prepare for the economic recovery with great optimism.”
Before the pandemic, IOU originated $154M in funding for all of 2019.
deBanked Announces SPAC
April 1, 2021April Fools 2021
deBanked employees were summoned to an all-hands meeting in the company’s modest Brooklyn, NY headquarters yesterday afternoon to bear witness to a special announcement.
“We’re launching a SPAC,” deBanked president and chief editor Sean Murray said to a stunned room. “I’ve been writing about fintech for more than ten years, but an inspirational meme posted by a bot on twitter got me thinking. And I was just like, ‘You know what? F*** it, let’s just buy the whole fintech industry.'”
Everyone quickly agreed that it was a genius move.
“What was the last stimulus? like what, $1.9 trillion or something? We’ll raise at least 10x that amount in our IPO,” he continued. “No financial technology company is off limits, we’re going to buy them all. I can’t believe no one has thought of this yet!”
Murray realized that such a brilliant strategy was likely to rattle the largest banks and he said that he had already placed calls to Jamie Dimon at JPMorgan and David Solomon at Goldman Sachs to ease them into his swift rise to financial power.
“I mean did I actually speak to them? Technically per se not really, but I heard them speak on Clubhouse of which I am an elite exclusive member,” Murray said.
When pressed for details about this Clubhouse conversation, Murray backpedaled and said he actually just read an article about Clubhouse but that the article referenced Elon Musk and that he was basically just as important as the famed bankers. Several sources who wished to remain anonymous said that Murray was only invited to Clubhouse after shamelessly begging for an invitation on twitter.
Attempts to verify his membership revealed a profile picture where he is giving a thumbs up while holding a glass of scotch, one of which he said came from a bottle that cost more than I would ever make in my whole life. A fact check, however, revealed that it was really just expired apple juice that a building maintenance worker had left out near the common area garbage disposal.
When asked to explain this, Murray said, “Bro, why do you think we’re doing a SPAC? Once we have the money, we’ll be drinking freaking Apple computers!”
By the end of the big company meeting, Murray pulled out a joint and began puffing it furiously through a mouth hole he cut open in his 7 simultaneously-worn covid masks, prompting one staff member to ask if his fanciful plan was at all related to New York’s newly enacted marijuana law.
“Wait, you mean this sh*t’s legal now?” he asked. “F***, make it two SPACs then!”
April Fools 🙂
Funding Circle US Originated $800M in 2020, More than 90% of Borrowers Were Making Payments
March 26, 2021
Funding Circle US revealed originations of £581M in 2020, equivalent to about $800M at current exchange rates. More than 90% of the company’s American borrowers were making full regular payments on their loans, Funding Circle reported. Approximately 7% were on a “payment holiday” at year-end or were not paying.
Funding Circle’s US loans generate low annual returns, its highest being a projected return of 4.1% to 4.9% for its 2016 cohort. Its 2020 cohort is projected to generate an annual return of between 1 – 3%.
Overall, Funding Circle reported a total net loss of £108.1M (approx $150M US) on just £103.7M in revenue, a massive loss that stemmed entirely from the first half of the year, attributed mostly to a write-down in “fair value.”
Funding Circle’s primary market is the UK. When comparing the market with the US, the company said that the US is in an earlier stage of development even though the market is 5x larger.
