Invoice payment platform Marmalade raises $16 million
Australian invoice payment platform Marmalade have today announced it has raised A$16 million in a funding round led by Blue Stamp Company, with participation from existing investors Paloma Capital along with a number of family offices. The capital will be used to fund new customer growth and product development, helping Marmalade accelerate its mission to scale the accessibility of risk-free working capital among SMBs.
The leading cause of small business failure in Australia is cash flow problems, predominantly caused by late and non-payment of invoices with net terms. Marmalade’s unique invoice payment service enables SMBs to have their invoices paid on-demand, alleviating cash flow pressures so they can focus on growth, without traditional debtor finance and cash flow loans.
Built by a founding team consisting of leadership and early investors in Afterpay, Marmalade has seen impressive growth to date, transacting over half a billion dollars annually. In the last year alone, it has seen a 65 percent increase in customer numbers and 100 percent uplift in payment volumes and revenue year-on-year.
This latest round of funding brings the total raised by Marmalade within the past four years to over AU$32 million, demonstrating the continued confidence of investors in the company’s vision, sophisticated risk and financial technology and potential for expansion. The company has set itself the aggressive target of reaching one billion dollars of payment volume through the platform in 2024.
“SMBs are the lifeblood of the Australian economy with entrepreneurs and leaders taking incredible risks to build a business that grows. Often frustrated by the limited support of traditional banking products, our customers are looking for new, innovative ways of managing their working capital and seeking a flexible, debt free alternative that puts their business growth back in their own hands, not the bank’s. It’s been exciting to see the continued diversification of our customer base to now also appeal to the mid-market, across various industries,” said Luke Trickett (pictured), Co-Founder and CEO, Marmalade.
“Marmalade helps businesses manage their cash flow gracefully with a product that is truly unique in market. Having worked with Luke and the team from early whiteboard concepts, through launch and growth of the Marmalade platform, we have developed a deep level of conviction in the team’s capability, integrity, and passion. Marmalade solves an extremely complex set of problems while still offering the end customer a simple and world-class experience,” said Ash Fogelberg, General Partner, Paloma Capital.
Directly integrating into cloud accounting platforms (Xero, Quickbooks or MYOB), invoices are pulled into Marmalade and are able to be cashed in for a small one-off fee. Providing this service at an invoice level gives owners and finance teams an always-on, debt-free, finance solution that is flexible to suit the changing needs of their business.
Underpinning Marmalade’s financial plumbing is a world-class risk management platform. Automation allows Marmalade to profitably scale into a customer base that is typically too heterogeneous, too complex and ultimately too expensive for both banks and non-banks to service.
Marmalade was built in partnership with Paloma, Australasia’s leading venture studio, with Paloma helping with product development, in addition to funding the business. The first iteration of the product went live with its first customer in October 2020. Since graduating from the studio, two former-Paloma tech team members joined the Marmalade team, including its Head of Technology & Engineering and a Senior Software Engineer.
As CEO, Luke is joined by Co-Founder and COO Richard Johnson, who was formerly Head of Data, Analytics and Risk for Afterpay globally, until he left for Marmalade at the beginning of 2021. The combination of Luke and Richard provides the back-bone of a world class fintech and lays strong foundations for Marmalade’s ambitious plans.
