Fundbox Hires First CFO as Fintech Startup Eyes Future IPO
January 14 2020 - 10:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Nina Trentmann
Financial technology startup Fundbox Inc. hired a former
investment banker to be its first finance chief as the seven-year
old company prepares for a potential initial public offering.
Marten Abrahamsen joined Fundbox in early January from The
Chernin Group LLC, a Los-Angeles-based investment firm, where he
was a partner since 2018. Before The Chernin Group, Mr. Abrahamsen
was responsible for Coatue Management LLC's investments in Grab
Holdings Inc. and Jet.com Inc., an online retailer now owned by
Walmart Inc., among others, and worked as an investment banker at
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
San Francisco-based Fundbox helps businesses improve their cash
flow by providing them with extra working capital based on their
transactions. Through Fundbox, sellers receive outstanding payments
faster, and buyers get access to a line of credit that enables them
to settle their obligations on time.
The company uses data analytics such as machine learning to
determine the creditworthiness of a business and the risks
associated with its transactions, and through a banking partner
grants access to short-term funds of up to $100,000.
It targets companies in the construction, business-to-business
retail and consumer electronics industries, and already has served
around 200,000 of those businesses.
Fundbox since its inception in 2013 raised more than $300
million in equity financing from a group of investors led by Khosla
Ventures, General Catalyst, Spark Capital and Amazon.com Inc. Chief
Executive Jeff Bezos.
Mr. Abrahamsen's tasks will revolve around budgeting, corporate
development and strategy. He will work on reducing the company's
costs and improving its margins, he said in an interview.
Based in San Francisco, Mr. Abrahamsen also will be responsible
for managing Fundbox's forecasting, planning and analysis tools, as
well as preparing for a potential IPO.
"We are in a very healthy financial position, and there is no
rush for us to go public," he said. The company's management has
started thinking about an IPO as one of the next steps for Fundbox,
however, Mr. Abrahamsen said.
The company declined to provide insights into its finances.
Fundbox is one of several startups that have recently hired a
CFO with experience in investment banking or capital markets,
recruiters said.
"We went for this type of CFO because of his capital markets and
investment expertise," a Fundbox spokesman said. "We wanted someone
who knows what it takes for an IPO."
Fundbox competes with various players in the payments and credit
space, including PayPal Holdings Inc., Square Inc. and Stripe Inc.,
said Moshe Katri, an analyst at Wedbush Securities Inc. Visa Inc.,
another payments company, on Monday was nearing a deal to acquire
financial-technology firm Plaid Inc., according to The Wall Street
Journal.
Founded in Israel, Fundbox currently has around 255 employees
and offices in Tel Aviv, Dallas and San Francisco, including 14 in
its finance function, according to the company spokesman.
Write to Nina Trentmann at Nina.Trentmann@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 14, 2020 10:14 ET (15:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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