London-based Apron has managed to garner the backing of some heavyweight investors.
The three-year-old fintech said Wednesday that it had raised a $30 million Series B funding round led by Zinal Growth, which is the venture capital fund started by the billionaire founder and CEO of Checkout.com, Guillaume Pousaz.
Pousaz, who Forbes estimates is worth $7.8 billion, commended Apron’s founder and CEO Bogdan Uzbekov after committing to the fundraising.
“We’ve been deeply impressed by the execution and vision of Bogdan and the Apron team,” Pousaz said. “They have created a delightful product for both SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses) and accountants, and we are excited to continue supporting them on their journey.”
Existing investors that also joined the funding round include Index Ventures, the European VC firm with headquarters in San Francisco and London, and Bessemer Venture Partners, one of Silicon Valley’s oldest VC firms.
Tony Fadell, the former Apple hardware executive who helped to lead the development of the iPod and iPhone, also invested in Apron through his firm Build Collective.
Apron, which didn’t disclose the valuation for the funding round, said it intends to use the capital to ramp up its headcount and roll out more products. The company said it would introduce a new product aimed at larger suppliers to enable them get paid faster, and it also plans to roll out a new expenses management product to help business owners save time.
“With new investment and expertise on board, we’re excited to bring new talent into the team to innovate, design and build the sort of B2B payments experience that truly flips payments from painful to powerful,” Uzbekov said.
Apron has raised more than $50 million in total funding so far. The fintech completed a $15 million Series A round in September last year.
The company runs a payments platform that helps small business owners to settle their payments more efficiently. The startup said Wednesday that its customer base had increased more than 20 times over the past 12 months, although it didn’t disclose the total figure.
Uzbekov founded Apron after working for two giants in the fintech sector. His background includes three years working for London-based Revolut and about six months at U.S. payments company Block, formerly known as Square.