Embedded financing company Enfuce has raised $9.3 million to expand into new markets.
The Finnish firm’s follow-on investment round was led by Vitruvian Partners, with participation from Maki.vc and Visa, according to a Thursday (Nov. 30) press release. It comes amid a continued downturn in venture funding for European startups.
The funding will help fuel the company’s expansion across key European markets, including Germany, France and the Benelux region (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), the release said.
“Visa’s trust isn’t just a validation of our business, it’s a testament to our significant growth during challenging economic times,” Enfuce Co-founder and Co-CEO Monika Liikamaa said in the release. “Since our inception, we have been committed to rapidly scaling up to ensure the widespread deployment of our modular, scalable and advanced payment solutions that significantly simplify our customers’ lives. With Visa’s investment, we will continue to bring our bold vision of shaping the future of embedded finance to life.”
The funding announcement comes two days after the annual State of European Tech report by British venture capital firm Atomico, which forecasts that funds raised by Europe’s tech startups will come to around $45 billion for the year, down from $82 billion last year.
“The decline is not surprising given the dual effect of many later-stage companies delaying fundraising, as well as materially slower deployment pacing by investors, which have both served to drive the large decline in the prevalence of outsized, late-stage investment rounds — the biggest factor in the lower amounts of capital invested,” the report said.
The report showed a decline in participation among investors from the U.S. For example, the share of total capital from American venture capital outfits in growth-stage companies dropped from 39% in 2021 to 25% this year.
Earlier this month, Enfuce teamed with Funding Circle, a U.K. small business lending platform, to launch a small business credit card as part of Funding Circle’s FlexiPay product.
FlexiPay offers small businesses in the U.K. a revolving line of credit to manage their short-term cash flow needs. The card will let small businesses make upfront payments directly to suppliers and cover expenses such as stock, equipment and utility bills.
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