Peblo CEO and co-founder Jake Browne and Wayflyer co-founder and CFO Jack Pierse. Image: Wayflyer
The Irish tech unicorn expects to advance more than $500m to creators over the next year through Peblo, which will remain as a standalone brand.
Dublin-based Wayflyer has moved into the influencer market with the purchase of creator funding provider Peblo – Wayflyer’s first major acquisition to date.
Fellow Irish start-up Peblo provides funding to bridge the gap between upfront cost and client payment, as many creators have to wait for months to get paid by their partnering brands. Customers are also able to view invoices, brand deals and outgoings on the funding provider’s platform.
Wayflyer said its acquisition will mean individual creators can access up to $2m in financing through Peblo. The e-commerce financing company expects to advance more than $500m to creators over the next year.
“By 2026, there will be an expected 15m influencers worldwide, so the creator market is one that is too fast-growing for us to ignore,” Wayflyer CEO and co-founder Aidan Corbett said.
“This strategic acquisition means that both online brands and the creators they partner with to market their products will benefit from our best-in-class underwriting, funding and marketing analytics,” Corbett added.
Following the multimillion-euro acquisition, Peblo will remain as a standalone brand and will be able to tap into Wayflyer’s underwriting capabilities and knowledge of the e-commerce sector. It will also be able to connect influencers with relevant e-commerce brands through Wayflyer’s platform.
Peblo’s team will join Wayflyer’s rapidly rising headcount, which grew by 525pc last year.
The Dublin-headquartered company plans to hire more than 400 people across its global offices by the end of this year. Last month, Wayflyer revealed a recent wave of senior hires as part of its global expansion.
The acquisition was financed thanks to Wayflyer’s $150m Series B funding round, which closed earlier this year and brought the fintech’s valuation to $1.6bn.
This made Wayflyer Ireland’s sixth tech unicorn, joining Intercom, Fenergo, Workhuman, LetsGetChecked and Flipdish, which hit unicorn status at the start of this year.
The revenue-based financing and growth platform had already raised $76m in a Series A funding round last May and expanded into new markets including Australia, Spain and the Netherlands.
“Wayflyer is one of Europe’s fastest-growing fintechs,” Peblo CEO and co-founder Jake Browne said. “We are delighted to become a part of its impressive story. Aidan and the team’s knowledge of the internet economy is second-to-none.
“Content creators are largely ignored in financial services, and by leveraging Wayflyer’s incredible resources we will now be able to change that.”
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