FinTech Archa closes $24 million funding round backed by high profile investors
Australian fintech, Archa, today announced it successfully closed its Pre-Series A investment round raising $24 million in a mix of debt and equity to support growth and further product development.
CEO and Founder of Wisr, Anthony Nantes, led the investment round, alongside other familiar tech investor names including Alex Vynokur of Apex Capital and Betashares, Adam Jacobs, Co-Founder of The Iconic and Hatch, and former Macquarie Capital executives John Prendiville and Link Chairman Michael Carapiet. The round also included a co-founder of ZIP and both Founders of Netspace, Stuart Marburg and Richard Preen, completing a deep cross section of savvy Australian technology talent. Archa also welcomed to its register a list of high-profile family offices.
Archa’s growth is reflective of a global trend in the corporate card space with US unicorn Brex recently closing US$300 million in fresh capital at a US$12.3 billion valuation in its Series D-2 round. Archa expects to replicate this success in the Australian market where corporate spending solutions are few and far between.
Archa Founder and CEO, Oliver Kidd, welcomed the high calibre of investors and believes it reflects the large and growing need for alternatives to traditional business banking products. The announcement coincides with the company securing its first institutional debt facility with Roadnight Capital providing Archa more ability to accelerate its customer growth. Archa was advised by Vixory Capital on the debt transaction.
“The problems faced by businesses when it comes to banking and payments is immense – so is the opportunity. We’re building a product designed around modern-day business processes to help save owners time and money so they can grow more efficiently.”
“This round of funding is growth capital. It will help us scale faster, serve more businesses, and grow our product functionality. The debt facility fortifies the economics of our business, and importantly it provides us with the capacity to fund a substantial corporate credit card book. We’re very ambitious about leading the future of operational finance for businesses, and this funding is crucial for us to deliver on that,” said Kidd.
Nantes said the Archa team are building a product to solve a real problem for businesses everywhere.
“We’ve watched several businesses successfully solve this problem and launch a disruptive cards model in other markets. Having seen Oliver and the team quietly executing on their strategy for some time now, I’ve been impressed with their approach and consistency. They’re already seeing strong growth numbers and with this new injection of capital I’m excited to watch what the management team can achieve, and believe they have a real chance to take this business to scale as a true alternative to the major banks for this product suite.”
