Israeli fintech Become secures $12.5m to help make SMBs more fundable
Israeli fintech Become, an online platform which aims to improve the fundability of small and medium businesses (SMBs) in their marketplace, has just secured $10 million in Series A investments and raised $2.5 million in venture debt capital.
Become co-founders: Amir Leitersdorf, Eden Amirav and Iri Amirav
Led by lead investor for entrepreneurs Benson Oak Ventures and Israeli early stage technology start-up investor Magenta Venture, the round also saw participation from private venture fund RIO Ventures Holdings, Israeli angel investor platform iAngels, and Entrée Capital, a team of ‘serial entrepreneurs’ with offices in Silicon Valley, London and Tel Aviv.
Become, formerly known as Lending Express, also closed an extra $2.5 million in venture debt capital from Viola Credit which is part of Viola Group, a private equity investment group with more than $3 billion under management. This brings the fintech’s total to $12.5 million.
“We strongly believe it is time to disrupt conventional and ‘alternative’ lending practices,” says Become’s CEO and co-founder Eden Amirav. “This creates a new market for alternative lenders and opens opportunities for formerly ‘unfundable’ SMBs to become bigger, better and more successful.”
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The fintech says it will use the new funds to scale up operations in the United States and Australia, and Amirav adds its ultimate goal: to “change the industry for the better”.
In Become’s eyes the current small business lending landscape is “fundamentally flawed”, because according to its research, 58% of SMBs are denied access to funding with no recourse or guidance on how resolve the issue of how to become more fundable.
Initially the fintech gives companies a “LendingScore” determined by its algorithms. Then it will provide them with a “personalised plan” and continue to monitor their viability as an attractive investment.
Lenders will then compete for Become’s registered SMBs to provide them with the best-suited loan.
Investor Benson Oak Ventures’ managing partner Robert Cohen believes the fintech is “setting new industry standards, upending everything we know about lending and having a real impact on SMBs around the world”.
Read on: Tel-Aviv based Kovrr raises $5.5m
