Manchester-based FinTech BankiFi has raised 拢2.2 million in funding.聽
The startup specialises in payment processing and financial administration services for SMEs.
The investment round was led by Praetura Ventures, with participation from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).
BankiFi was founded to help financial institutions better serve small and medium-sized businesses. The firm鈥檚 technology equips banks to take on challengers and provide more agile customer-led services to SMEs, as opposed to more traditional product-led offerings.聽
It enables banks to provide a set of integrated services, including invoicing, payments, cash management and accounting, which are designed to help businesses reduce time spent on financial administration.
鈥淪MEs and early-stage innovators are a vital pillar of our economy and will play an important role in the UK鈥檚 post-pandemic recovery, but many continue to be hampered by inadequate banking services,鈥� said founder and CEO Mark Hartley.聽
鈥淏ankiFi want to change that by putting banks at the heart of businesses鈥� day-to-day needs. Before the pandemic, invoice cycles took a month on average, meaning most businesses didn鈥檛 get paid for their services or products for more than 50 days.聽
鈥淭hat delay has now increased to more than 70 days, putting immense pressure on the cashflow of many SMEs.鈥�
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According to McKinsey, late payments owed to individual SMEs stand at more than 拢6,000 on average, according to research from the Federation of Small 老九品茶es.
鈥淭he good news is that banks are beginning to see the sizeable opportunity to tap into this under-served market,鈥� added Hartley. 鈥淥ur software allows them to offer advanced services to SMEs, and we鈥檙e seeing a real uptick in demand for our products as banks look to compete in this space.聽
鈥淭he Praetura Ventures team has deep sector insight with a track record of scaling FinTech businesses, which we believe will be crucial in helping us grow our business.鈥�
Hartley previously scaled payments technology provider Clear2Pay, which was sold to FIS for circa 鈧�375m in 2014. BankiFi鈥檚 CFO is Chris Fry, who was previously a partner at KPMG.
Praetura Ventures invested 拢1.5m while an additional 拢700k comes from GMCA. The new funding will allow BankiFi to expand its product and service offering, grow its client base and target new domestic and overseas markets.
David Foreman, MD at Praetura – who contributed the Insights piece above – said: 鈥淭he UK is Europe鈥檚 established leader in FinTech, and the sector will play an important role in the future of the UK economy.聽
鈥淭he global market is forecast to almost triple in size to 拢380bn by 2030, so there鈥檚 a clear opportunity for innovative businesses like BankiFi to scale up. It鈥檚 such an exciting sector that we鈥檙e always looking to invest in.
鈥淪ince we first met Bankifi, we鈥檝e been so impressed with the founding team鈥檚 passion, knowledge and track history in FinTech. Their focus on growing the business in the North of England and delivering something revolutionary to the region dovetails perfectly with our own mission.鈥�