Led by the leading global fintech fund Ribbit Capital, the investment includes some of the biggest names in fintech and will accelerate Balance’s mission of moving global B2B trade online
Balance, the payments experience platform for B2B eCommerce, announced it has raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from Avid Ventures as well as existing investors Lightspeed Ventures, Stripe, Y Combinator Continuity Fund, SciFi VC and UpWest. Other individual investors participating include Jacqueline Reses (formerly Head of Square Capital) as well as additional early employees and executives from Square, Plaid, Coinbase, Stripe, and PayPal.
Retail eCommerce companies such as Amazon and Shopify have created expectations amongst consumers for a seamless online checkout experience with flexible terms, payment methods and transparent pricing. Despite these expectations, 92% of B2B transactions are still done offline, representing over $2T (more than 2x retail eCommerce). However, this is changing rapidly – a skyrocketing number of B2B marketplaces and eCommerce businesses have started to emerge and are accelerating the shift of B2B sourcing and trade from offline to online, but they have lacked the dedicated B2B payments solutions necessary to delight and retain their customers. Given these trends, B2B merchants are feeling immense pressure to improve their online checkout experiences.
Read More: Kraken Donates $250,000 to Advance Ethereum’s Blockchain Upgrade Efforts
Balance is meeting this market need with the first consumer-like B2B checkout platform for merchants and marketplaces. The company’s checkout platform provides flexibility and control for all parties involved: buyers enjoy the choice of payment methods including ACH, Wire, and Checks as well as real-time net terms at checkout; merchants get immediate payout which is always reconciled like with credit cards; and marketplaces are enabled with automated vendor disbursement, a full compliance umbrella, and reconciliation management.
“Global B2B trade being done mostly offline is resulting in high cost of living and economic inefficiencies, worldwide. We are at the very early innings of a massive shift from offline to online, across industries,” says Bar Geron, Balance founder & CEO. “Our goal is to facilitate this transition with an amazing transaction experience for businesses and suppliers, making it a no-brainer for every B2B business to start selling online. We’re happy to share an aligned vision regarding the future of global B2B trade with Ribbit Capital and all our backers and partners, and are excited to have this impressive group join us to continue enhancing our customers’ payment experience.”
Read More: Currency Agnostic Blockchain Debuts for Global Trade
“There’s $130T of global B2B trade that’s inevitably coming online,” adds Jordan Angelos, GP at Ribbit Capital. “Balance’s checkout and payments infrastructure gives ecommerce businesses a purpose-built toolkit to facilitate this transition. We’re energized by Balance’s mission and excited to become partners.”
Balance is already partnering with eCommerce giants like BigCommerce (powering its B2B edition to enable merchants to build their self serve checkout), as well as Magento, leading B2B eCommerce agencies, and soon to include Salesforce. Balance’s customer base varies from startups to publicly traded marketplaces and ecommerce enterprises across industries such as steel, freight, construction, food ordering, medical supply, apparel and more.
Read More: Blockchain Safety: Why You Should Create a New Bitcoin Address Every Time?
