Wayflyer founders Aidan Corbett and Jack Pierse. Image: Wayflyer
The start-up, founded by Aidan Corbett and Jack Pierse, will use the investment to scale its e-commerce funding and analytics platform.
E-commerce financing and marketing analytics start-up Wayflyer has raised $10.2m in seed capital. The funding round was led by QED Investors, with contributions from Middlegame Ventures, Speedinvest and Fintech Growth Fund Europe.
Wayflyer said it is scaling to meet surging demand in the e-commerce sector as a result of Covid-19. The fresh funding will support its global expansion and technology development and help it finance up to 1,000 more e-commerce platforms in the next year. The company said it is on track to reach profitability in 2021.
There are currently four Wayflyer offices in Dublin, New York, London and Sydney. Its clients include Ambr Eyewear, Oral Essentials and Irish bike-sharing service Moby.
The business was founded last year by CEO Aidan Corbett and CFO Jack Pierse. Corbett is a graduate of University College Cork and previously co-founded workplace learning platform Kubicle and analytics consultancy Conjura, while University College Dublin graduate Pierse was a venture capitalist who previously worked at PwC and Highway1.
The Wayflyer platform was spun out of Conjura, and provides customers with funding as well as daily analyses of marketing performance and recommendations to improve their spending. It offers e-commerce brands up to $5m in unsecured capital to invest in advertising space and inventory, as well as AI-driven marketing insights.
The company’s goal, Corbett said, is to help e-commerce businesses overcome obstacles. “Since issuing our first advance in March of this year, we have helped over 100 businesses to exceed their revenue and growth goals with over $25m in total funding advanced and zero defaults.
“This is undoubtedly due to the strength of Wayflyer’s technology and data, which allows us to invest in promising young companies that are shut out of mainstream financing options. With the support of our investors, we’re building upon this winning formula in new markets and with new capabilities.”
