Irish lender Wayflyer lands $1bn financing deal with Neuberger Berman
Wayflyer, a specialist revenue-based financing platform connecting early-stage e-commerce firms to growth capital, has secured a $1 billion financing deal with investment management firm Neuberger Berman.
Wayflyer lands $1bn deal with Neuberger Berman
According to the Dublin-based platform, its agreement with Neuberger Berman takes the form of an “off-balance sheet programme”.
Off-balance sheet financing enables a company to keep its debt-to-equity ratio low and therefore borrow on cheaper rates – a significant benefit for a platform like Wayflyer which has reported a 100% increase in capital deployed between 2021 and 2022.
The deal will see Wayflyer purchase up to $1 billion worth of assets from funds managed by the firm on more favourable terms, although a timeframe for this transaction has not been disclosed.
Speaking on the agreement, Aidan Corbett, Wayflyer’s co-founder and CEO, says his platform is currently experiencing growing demand “especially in the US market”.
He adds that the deal with Neuberger Berman will enable the company to continue providing capital to e-commerce start-ups who would otherwise be battling strenuous funding conditions
The company previously secured a $76 million Series A in June 2021 and a $150 million Series B in February last year, which earned the platform unicorn status. More recently, it renewed its $300 million debt line from JP Morgan in June 2023.
The average loan granted by the platform typically ranges from $300,000 to $400,000, and is leveraged by the recipient to power growth, usually through stock acquisitions, hiring initiatives and improving the financial resilience of their business.
Zhengyuan Lu, managing director at Neuberger Berman, anticipates that the global e-commerce sector will “continue growing rapidly in the coming years”.
