Online lender and invoice finance solution company, Waddle, yesterday announced it has secured AUD$4 million in Series A funding. The funding round was secured from experienced technology investor, Allectus Capital Limited (Allectus), and will be utilised to aggressively scale the platform in Australasia and accelerate the integration of Waddle’s global financial services partners.
The raise will support Waddle’s mission to simplify working capital for SMEs by automating the entire credit process via seamless integration with cloud accounting and enterprise planning systems.
The completion of the funding round builds on a significant year for Waddle, including the rollout of international bank platform partnerships, strong lending growth and closing a A$50M wholesale debt facility. By accelerating marketing, sales and development, the business is well positioned to capitalise on this momentum.
Co-founder of Waddle, Simon Creighton, said: “Cloud accessible data and the broader digital economy is quickly transforming how SMEs think about and solve their working capital constraints. Allectus share our vision of leveraging data and automation to provide SMEs with simple and cost-effective access to capital. I’m thrilled to have them join the team. The support we will receive from this global organisation as we build out with partner banks will be invaluable.”
Allectus is a global technology investor that focuses on fintech, artificial intelligence and automation, identity and security and digital health, and oversees c.A$400m of assets across the Asia Pacific, UK and US. Allectus is managed and owned by ICM Limited, an international fund manager and corporate finance adviser with seven offices globally, which manages directly and indirectly c.US$18bn in funds.
ICM Portfolio Manager, Jason Cheong, said: “We believe Waddle presents an incredible value proposition for SMEs by providing best in class user experience, live credit assessment and digital account management. We see a great opportunity to grow the business alongside trusted financial services partners and leverage our technology ecosystem.”
As part of the transaction, ICM Chief Information Officer, Pierre De Villecourt, will join the Board of Waddle. Pierre said: “We are excited to assist Waddle in creating a global, data-driven lending solution, which addresses a critical SME need. We look forward to working with the team and the exceptional platform they have created.”
