Smartfundit Raises £3.5 Million

Smartfundit.com, a developer of an online finance exchange with offices in the UK and San Francisco, has raised £3.5 million in VC funding led by BayTech Venture Capital.

PRESS RELEASE

smartfundit.com, a company dedicated to creating the world’s first online finance exchange, announced it has completed a GBP3.5 million round of venture capital funding led by BayTech Venture Capital, a leading European venture capital firm.

 

Executing on its vision of creating an online finance exchange for business users, smartfundit.com has established a strong position in the technology leasing space. The investment and expertise from BayTech Venture Capital is set to accelerate the companies global expansion and increase even further the development capacity of its technology finance marketplace.

 

Commenting on the announcement, Jude Ngu’Ewodo, General Partner at BayTech, explains: “We quickly realised that the smartfundit online business model is the much needed answer to the many inefficiencies of conventional technology leasing. With over $1 billion in finance requests since inception and a credit approval rate in excess of 80%, the relevance of smartfundit is well established and the company is growing considerably faster than the current market.”

 

Co-founders of smartfundit.com, Suki Gallagher, COO and Justin Floyd, CEO, expand: “We are delighted to have BayTech help us to aggressively grow the company and the technology so we can deliver on our vision of providing competitive, and trusted online finance to a global business community.”

 

Since its launch in the UK in early 2006, online financing made available by the smartfundit.com web service has seen a significant rise in popularity. Software vendors and their channel partners are utilising the instant online access to over 8000 finance product combinations to source, benchmark and select the most suitable leasing arrangements on behalf of their customers. Offering finance at point of sale typically reduces the time to close transactions, makes IT solutions more affordable for businesses and saves the vendor time and resources in their cash-collection efforts.

 

Recent high-profile transactions include finance for Harrods e-commerce activities, a multi-million GBP SAP project and the addition of two major new technology partners to the smartsellit.com partner network: business management and information systems provider COA Solutions, as well as ERP and supply chain software experts, Access Supply Chain Limited.

 

smartfundit.com also announces that Jude Ngu’Ewodo, partner of BayTech Venture Capital has joined its board, effective immediately.

 

Notes to editors

 

About BayTech Venture Capital

 

BayTech Venture Capital is a leading European Venture Capital firm with the ambition to help the best entrepreneurs build the most successful companies in their fields of expertise.

 

We invest at an early or expansion stage in technology and innovation driven companies in Western Europe. The contribution to success in the growth phase of these companies is not limited to capital. The money provided goes along with the experience in company building and the industry expertise of the investment professionals, access to the world-wide network and the respect for the values and the contribution of the entrepreneurs we work with.

 

About smartfundit.com

 

The smartfundit.com platform delivers equipment leasing and technology finance in real time over the internet. Its innovative technology and unrivalled market coverage enable users to search through 8000 product combinations from a network of global providers, delivering finance on demand(TM). The sophisticated decision engine matches the user’s investment requirements with the available software leasing or asset finance option from leading funders and technology leasing specialists. Modeled on web 2.0-type user experiences, this makes the most appropriate finance terms available 24/7 for CFOs, Finance Directors and technology vendor sales teams. The company is privately held and is based in Camberley, UK and San Francisco, USA.