Darlington-based tech startup, Paid, has announced a £2.2m fundraise, led by London-based venture capital firm, Crane.
The cash will be used to upgrade its enterprise procurement process platform.
“Every SME who has ever dealt with large enterprises knows the pain and the time it takes to do even a simple thing like onboarding as a supplier, signing a contract, or getting paid on time,” said Tom Howsam, Co-Founder and CEO of Paid.
“What they may not know is that that frustration is usually shared by the enterprise buyer, whose internal, one-size fits all process means they can’t move quickly.”
Paid stated that since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, 97% of business have experienced some form of supply chain disruption.
The platform is said to transform the procure-to-pay process, by enabling efficient onboarding, project scoping, sign off and invoicing.
“Paid offers an intuitive software-as-a-service platform that reinvents the procurement process,” explained Krishna Visvanathan, Founding Partner at Crane Venture Partners.
“For enterprises and small suppliers alike, using Paid is a no-brainer, making it easier to manage a diverse supply chain through uncomplicated software. We are proud to back Paid as it builds a new category for supplier management in procure-to-pay transformation for enterprises.”
Further investors include Seedcamp, Techstars and angel investors, including Angel Invest Ventures’ Jens Lapinski, GoCardless and Nested Founder Matthew Robinson, Outrun Ventures founder Chris Adelsbach (in a personal capacity), and former Microsoft head of corporate strategy Charles Songhurst.
“What really excites me about Paid is the way the team has built a comprehensive platform to solve a complex, real-world problem that every enterprise faces – how to handle their long tail procure-to-pay process in a cost-effective way, allowing them to access the most innovative suppliers quickly and easily,” said Jeremy Roche, founder of FinancialForce and Paid’s new Chairman.
“This is the most intuitively designed solution I have seen to minimise effort for both enterprise buyers and their SME suppliers, removing friction from the procurement process and maximising benefits for both sides of the transaction.”
Paid was founded in late 2018 and participated in the Barclays London Accelerator, powered by Techstars, in January 2019. It currently employs 6 people in Darlington and London.
