(Bloomberg) -- Vision Fund expanded its financial-technology portfolio, leading a $200 million funding round for supply-chain platform C2FO.
Already this year, SoftBank's $100 billion-odd fund has invested in the U.K.'s Greensill, another supply-chain financier, and OakNorth Bank Plc, as well as a pending deal in German payments company Wirecard AG.
“Business models are going to get redefined in this macro environment that we're entering, and I don't think banks will be the leaders in that innovation,” said Akshay Naheta, a managing partner at the SoftBank Fund. “That's what keeps us excited about this sector.”
Based in Leawood, Kansas, C2FO provides an online marketplace where suppliers offer discounted rates on their invoices in exchange for early payments direct from their customers. The company says this provides working capital, especially to small businesses, estimating that $40 trillion is tied up around the world in accounts receivables. C2FO says it has clients in 173 countries and plans to use the funds from this round to strengthen partnerships in India and China and create a presence in Korea, Japan and Indonesia.
The company declined to provide the valuation implied by the funding round, which included earlier investors Allianz X, Mubadala Investment Co., Temasek Ltd., Union Square Ventures and Mithril Capital.
SoftBank's Naheta said the investment falls under the original Vision Fund and is not part of their newly formed $108 billion Vision 2, which is due to start investing soon.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ali Ingersoll in London at aingersoll1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Giles Turner at gturner35@bloomberg.net, James Hertling
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