Hokodo, a London and Paris-based B2B Buy Now Pay Later provider, has raised $12.5 million (approx £8.8 million) in funding in the Series A round.
Who backed Hokodo?
Mosaic Ventures led the round in participation from Notion Capital, Anthemis, and several prominent angel investors including, Taavet Hinrikus, founder of TransferWise (now Wise), Thijn Lamers, former EVP, Global Sales of Adyen, Max Bittner, CEO of Vestiaire Collective, and founder of Lazada and Rich Laxer, ex-Chairman, and CEO of GE Capital.
How will the funding be used?
The proceeds will be used towards further developing its proprietary digital credit technology and extend its services across Europe, supporting the growth of the $12 trillion (approx £8.5 trillion) B2B commerce space
“Credit terms are a crucial lever to grow sales, especially as the economy unlocks following COVID. But current processes for offering trade credit are not fit for purpose – especially for online sales. With Hokodo, merchants can offer payment terms instantly at the check-out, even on a customer’s first visit; and our merchants are guaranteed to get paid no matter what”, says Richard Thornton, Co-Founder, and Co-CEO.
Real-time trade credit solutions
Founded by Richard Thornton, Louis Carbonnier, and Sami Ben Hatit in 2018, Klarna rival Hokodo provides B2B merchants with real-time trade credit solutions.
“Hokodo’s Buy Now Pay Later solution is helping the whole supply chain by removing the hassle associated with payment terms. Everyone wins: trade customers can buy now and pay later, while merchants win more business and streamline their order-to-cash cycle. Merchants using Hokodo see an average 40% increase in revenue and achieve unprecedented levels of customer satisfaction”, says Louis Carbonnier, Hokodo’s Co-Founder and Co-CEO.
Through the platform, merchants can offer instant payment terms to their customers through a frictionless B2C-like “Buy Now Pay Later” checkout experience.
The solution can be integrated easily via APIs into existing e-commerce platforms and marketplaces.
The company also automates the whole order-to-cash cycle, from credit checks to collections and working capital finance, while protecting merchants against non-payments.
Hiring
Hokodo employs around 30 people located in London and Paris. Hokodo says it will double its team by the end of 2021, and grow by another 100% in 2022, with key roles in product, tech, data science, and commercial.
“The B2B purchasing experience has long lagged behind its B2C counterpart, and trade customers are calling for more. Hokodo is building a next-generation platform for digital commerce, offering real-time credit to make it easier for businesses to purchase goods and easier for merchants to convert sales and grow. We have seen the enormous impact of “buy now, pay later” technology in the consumer market and, by solving the complexity of real-time trade finance, Hokodo is now bringing it to B2B”, says Toby Coppel, Co-founder, and Partner at Mosaic Ventures.
Patrick Norris, General Partner at Notion Capital explains: “I like the founders’ combination of skills and experience across credit insurance and risk, plus their thoughtful approach to the extremely complex task of enabling real-time credit for B2B eCommerce. They are also a very close team with a fantastic culture”.
The post Another Klarna rival from UK: Hokodo secures £8.8M for its buy now pay later solution appeared first on UKTN (UK Tech News).
