Behalf banks $100m debt facility to scale its B2B BNPL offering

July 29, 2021

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) FinTech startup Behalf, has raised $19m in new venture financing alongside a debt facility that brings the total to $100m.

Existing investors led the funding including MissionOG, Viola Growth, Viola Credit and Vintage Investment Partners. New investors Migdal Insurance and La Maison Partners joined in supporting the firm.

The capital raised will enable Behalf to expand the availability of In-Purchase Financing to a broader array of B2B merchants and their SMB customers while continuing to extend the capabilities of its industry-leading platform.

Behalf offers a series of services to facilitate BNPL with B2B merchants including streamlined integration with existing point of sale systems. The service allows merchants to outsource their net terms and extended financing programs, and receive payment as early as next business day.

Furthermore, Behalf provides B2B merchants with benefits such as the incorporation of advanced underwriting and scoring models to address the added complexity and risk of larger business transactions; and the financing capabilities to support that. Merchants get the ability to serve the different purchasing needs of virtually all of the merchant’s business customers.

Behalf CEO Rob Rosenblatt said, “The B2B eCommerce market is ripe for transformation. Merchants are recognizing the opportunity to drive new revenue by deploying In-Purchase Financing. At the same time, SMBs need access to affordable financing options — an evergreen challenge exacerbated during Covid-19.

“Even as the US economy is improving, SMBs continue to seek financial assistance to purchase critical supplies, inventory and equipment. Oftentimes they lack the requisite spend capacity on their personal or business credit cards. By offering In-Purchase Financing with flexible terms, B2B merchants can increase average order size by as much as 50-80% while reducing their risk, improving cash flow and driving operational efficiencies.”

BNPL is a big deal in the consumer space, but the B2B eCommerce market — $4trn and growing — also presents a huge opportunity. B2B merchants want to drive new revenue by deploying BNPL the same way consumer merchants have.