Klarna-backer QED Investors leads $20m round in Payhawk

Bulgarian expense management startup Payhawk raised a $20m funding round led by QED Investors, with Earlybird Digital East also participating.

In conjunction with the funding, Yusuf Ozdalga from QED Investors will join the Payhawk board alongside existing investors Mehmed Atici from Earlybird Digital East and Vassil Terziev from Eleven Ventures.

The fresh funds will enable Payhawk to expand its product offering. The company will expand coverage for businesses outside the EU and UK, add new payment products including credit cards and support additional currencies. Payhawk will also work to streamline the cash flow from existing bank accounts to Payhawk to provide unlimited spending capabilities for finance teams.

Additionally, the company plans to accelerate its use of AI and machine learning to introduce smart workflows and to reduce the need for manual review and approval. Furthermore, the company plans to triple its marketing and sales team this year.

Founded in 2018, Payhawk helps finance teams to reduce manual work, keep tight control of budgets in real-time and automate their spending across every payment method. Its platform enables clients to issue corporate cards for employees, manage invoices and track payments from a single interface instead of having to use multiple systems.

The SaaS solution charges a monthly subscription fee that varies depending on optional features and the number of active cards. Boasting a clientele which includes LuxAir, Lotto24, Viking Life, ATU, Gtmhub, MacPaw and By Miles, the startup has 200 clients with plans to increase the figure this year.

In 2020, the firm witnessed 10x growth and doubled its revenue in Q1 of 2021. Building on the firm’s growth, Payhawk CEO and founder Hristo Borisov said, “We have huge ambitions for the year ahead.

“Over the next year, we are keen to provide great support to finance teams across 30+ countries to manage company cards, invoices and payments in a unified and efficient way. We plan to significantly expand our integrations to existing ERP systems, and also easily connect on top of every business bank account across Europe. To do this, we need to invest in building the right setup and team to scale further and the new funding round will enable us to do this.”

Commenting on the funding, Ozdalga said, “As budgets are more typically managed online by remote teams, there is unprecedented demand for cost-effective finance solutions. We look forward to working with Hristo and the team.”

Recently, Payhawk announced the launch of one-click bill payments and reimbursements powered by a partnership with Railsbank. The FinTech also joined the Xero App Marketplace with a live bank feed to fully automate reconciliation of all company payments.

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