Aussie challenger ‘credit card’ Cape bags $33.1m in debt and equity

Australian expenses management platform and credit provider Cape has raised $3.1m in equity and secured a $30m debt facility as part of its latest funding round.

The equity raise was led by Investible, Scalare Partners, Mercury Capital and 15 other business angels, while the debt came from Aura Ventures.

Cape came out of stealth in September 2020, founded by CEO Ryan Edwards-Pritchard, the former managing director of Funding Options in the UK.

Today the fintech has 18 employees and Edwards-Pritchard said the additional cash would now be used to double its headcount with a particular focus on engineers and product specialists.

Currently, Cape offers its SME customers a charge card with limits of up to $100,000 based on creditworthiness, using open banking provided by Basiq to make credit decisions.

Last year Cape hired Tanya Ward from credit provider Pepper Money as its first CFO, and earlier this year hired Julian Guppy from alternative lender Capital On Tap as its chief technology officer.

The fintech hopes to tap into Australia’s 2.1m-strong SME market with its now open banking-powered credit card.

Cape’s soon-to-be-released card will allow businesses to manage their cash flow through live file management, access buy-now-pay-later finance and make revenue-based repayments.