“Here for the long term”: Why Brighte is using its latest $15.5 million raise to make an unexpected pivot
Fintech Brighte has secured $15.5 million in Series C funding, as it prepares to make a move into Australia’s home improvement sector.
The funding round was led by AirTree Ventures. Atlassian co-founders Mike Cannon-Brokes and Scott Farquhar also became repeat investors — Brookes through his fund Grok Ventures and Farquhar through Skip Capital, the fund headed up by his wife Kim Jackson — along with prominent retail entrepreneur Naomi Milgrom.
Singaporean VC Qualgro also invested in the business for the first time.
Brighte provides what is effectively a buy-now-pay-later platform, offering zero-interest loans for the installation of energy-saving add-ons such as solar panels and insulation in homes.
However, this round will see the business move into the home improvement space, with the platform expanding to finance things such as pools and patios.
The funding follows Brighte’s Series B round in May last year, when it bagged $18.5 million. The startup also secured a massive $130 million debt funding facility from NAB earlier this year.
While founder Katherine McConnell is tight-lipped with regards to Brighte’s revenue figures, she does tell StartupSmart “sales volume is definitely increasing”.
Predominantly, she has been focusing on building a scalable platform and raising cost-effective debt, she explains.
“We are on a journey to breaking even … Growth is important, but also sustainably growing and being a profitable company is something that we aspire to,” she adds.
“We’re growing very quickly, but we have to make sure we hold it all together. We want to be here for the long term.”
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