Fintech start up Greensill has won an $800m investment from Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, as it plots expansion into key Asian markets.
The London-based business, founded eight years ago, firm provides small firms working capital finance to run their day-to-day operations, to cover payments due from large corporations.
The firm’s deal with SoftBank’s Vision Fund values the company at $3.5bn, making it one of the UK’s most valuable fintech businesses.
The Japanese firm’s Vision Fund, led by Masayoshi Son, has over $100bn of committed capital in tech firms, including tech giants such as Alibaba and Uber. It counts former British Prime Minister David Cameron (pictured) as one of its advisors.
The firm competes against a range of UK-based start ups valued at over a billion pounds, such as small firm peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle and online business bank OakNorth.
Greensill, co-founded by former Morgan Stanley and Citi banker Lex Greensill (pictured), said it has arranged $60bn of financing across 60 countries since it was launched in 2011.
The business plans to use the cash to expand into India and China, as well as accelerate its recent entry into the Brazilain market.
Lex Greensill said: “Greensill democratises access to capital using technology and the financial markets. We are agents of technological disruption with a mission to make available finance at the lowest possible cost for our clients and their suppliers, whilst opening up a whole new asset class to global investors.”
Greensill said it has more than doubled in size every year since 2015.
