Funding Watch is Localogy’s series that tracks funding to SMB-focused startups and tech providers. See the rest of the series here.
Things continue to heat up in SMB Saas. For those unfamiliar, this sector is represented by companies that build software tools for small businesses. It’s everything from “front of the house” marketing and customer acquisition tools, to “back of the house,” operational management (think: payroll).
This is a wide range of companies and opportunities as we examine in an upcoming white paper. And while following the sector on an ongoing basis, we’re struck by the level of venture funding it’s receiving. So for the latest Funding Watch post, we’re rounding recent SMB-Saas funding inflows.
Here’s the latest roundup of the top 10 funding rounds (listed in order of investment dollars). We’ll be back next week with 10 more, as the year is off to a big start in SMB SaaS investment:
French challenger bank Qonto has raised a $115 million Series C round from Tencent and DST Global. Bordering on fintech, the challenger bank (or neo-bank) specializes in B2B operations for SMBs, including managing payments and other banking needs, using its payment institution license.
German SMB-focused HR platform Personio has raised $75 million in Series C funding from Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lars Dalgaard, Index Ventures, Northzone, Rocket Internet’s Global Founders Capital, and Picus Capital. Its software combines HR, recruiting and payroll into a single platform for companies ranging from 10 to 2,000 employees.
Stockholm-based marketing data company Funnel has raised $47 million in Series B funding from Eight Roads Ventures, F-Prime Capital, Balderton Capital, Oxx, Zobito, Industrifonden and Kreos Capital. The software helps businesses automate online marketing by aggregating data and insights from disparate platforms.
San Francisco and Lagos-based fintech startup Flutterwave has raised a $35 million Series B round as a strategic investment from Worldpay FIS. The company powers B2B payments for companies operating in Africa, processing 107 million transactions worth $5.4 billion last year.
New York-based customer management and CDP startup ActionIQ has raised $32 million in Series C funding. The company’s software helps SMBs, startups and larger brands manage and optimize customer interactions for more personalized service.
Goal-setting SaaS startup WorkBoard has raised a $30 million Series C round from Andreessen Horowitz, Microsoft’s M12, GGV and Workday Ventures. The company rides the OKR (objectives & key results) wave by automating the process’s key components into an organized workflow.
Berlin-based rental management firm Home has raised €11 million ($11.9 million) in Series A funding from Capnamic, EQT Ventures, FJ Labs and Redalpine. The software helps property managers streamline payment and other operational aspects.
French property management startup Matera has raised $11.2 million from Index Ventures with participation from Samaipata. As the second property management play on this week’s roundup, the SaaS platform equips small property owners or managers with tools to organize payments, vendors and other operational requirements.
Stasher has raised $2.5 million from VentureFriends and angels that include former Hotels.com president Johan Svanstrom. Stasher’s marketplace and app connect travelers with local shops that can store their luggage on a short term basis, thus managing auxiliary revenue streams for SMBs.
Customer feedback software provider Harvestr has raised a $650,000 seed round from Nicolas Hernandez, Guillaume Alary, and the Atomico Angel Programme. The software helps businesses prioritize customer service tasks by centralizing customer feedback from several sources such as Zendesk, Salesforce and Slack.
