Image: © Syda Productions/Stock.adobe.com
Billie, which offers solutions to help businesses tackle their growing piles of B2B invoices, has just raised €30m in Series B funding.
Berlin-based start-up Billie announced yesterday (16 July) that it has raised €30m in Series B funding, in a round led by Creandum. Speedinvest, Rocket Internet’s GFC and Picus also invested in this round.
The start-up was founded in 2017 by Dr Christian Grobe, Dr Matthias Knecht and Jörg Asmussen. The three men referenced the perception of Germany as a country full of punctual and efficient people who never miss deadlines but noted that many businesses in the country still struggle to pay invoices in a timely manner. Billie referenced a 2016 study, which found that “in Germany, even in the best economic situation, nearly half of all B2B invoices are paid around three weeks late”.
After conducting research, Billie discovered that many German businesses were unhappy with existing invoicing solutions. It developed an invoice platform to fill the gap in the market that SMEs, large e-commerce players and transnational marketplaces were unhappy with.
Two solutions
One of the solutions offered on Billie’s platform is a financing option in the online checkout process, which Knecht explained to TechCrunch: “It enables instant financing of the customer’s purchase directly at the online point of sale, and takes away all administrative hassle and default risk from the seller.”
Knecht also discussed the second solution Billie offers clients, which is SME invoice factoring. “Small and medium-sized businesses can handle all their outgoing invoices through our platform, get instant financing for each invoice (they do not need to wait 90 days to get paid by their customers), and also outsource the collections process as well as coverage of default risk to Billie.”
The funding from the Series B will go towards helping Billie offer more B2B invoice services to its clients.
Knecht also said that Billie will “start rolling out solutions across Europe at some point, as the need to turn B2B transactions into a frictionless experience exists across countries”.
