Billhop co-founders L-R: Ingemar Sjögren (CFO), Sebastian Andreescu (CEO) and Erik Malm (CTO)
News Digital Banking
Swedish payment processor Billhop bags €4m Series A
The fintech will use the cash to help expand its platform and bolster its customer service, marketing and sales.
Billhop, a Swedish payment platform that allows businesses to pay invoices by card regardless of whether the receiver accepts cards, has bagged a €4m Series A.
The round, which was led by fintech-friendly VC Element Ventures, will be used for product development and to help the young fintech to bolster its sales, marketing and customer support functions to help it meet the growing demand for its product.
Ingemar Sjögren, CFO and co-founder of Billhop said: “The pandemic has led to massive reductions in Travel & Entertainment (T&E) spend traditionally comprising the bulk of corporate card spend. It has forced commercial card issuers to find new avenues to stimulate card volumes.”
“In supplier payments, the issue has always been the low card acceptance - this is something that Billhop instantly addresses. Whilst card issuers always had a willingness to promote Billhop to increase transaction volumes, we see that this appetite is intensifying in the absence of T&E spend.”
Billhop is used by over 50,000 European companies and, since the introduction of its B2C offering in January 2019, transactions have increased five-fold.
Michael McFadgen, partner at Element Ventures, added: “We set up Element Ventures to find companies just like Billhop. Those fintech firms with a strong focus on B2B and whose technology has the potential to revolutionise the way businesses operate.”
“Billhop has already made fantastic progress helping their customers efficiently access financing and liquidity, having grown organically since launch, and it will prove even more crucial as businesses of all sizes navigate the turbulent market conditions ahead.”
Following a shift to online shopping and e-commerce because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Billhop saw transactions processed through its platform exceed €270m.
Back in April 2020, the fintech teamed up with Visa to help Irish SMEs pay their suppliers using their existing credit cards, without having to get the supplier on board.
