Simple and fast corporate payments: APRON centre has attracted US$30 million to develop services for SMEs
APRON makes corporate payments more accessible to small businesses. In autumn 2024, the company raised a Series B funding round of US$30 million. The lead investor was Zinal Growth, a technology fund backed by the founder of Checkout.com.
Existing investors, including Index Ventures, also participated in the round. In 2023, the company led the Series A round with an investment of US$15 million. Other investors at the time included Bessemer Venture Partners and Tony Fadellom, head of Build Collective.
Solution benefits
Making and receiving payments is an everyday process for businesses. According to statistics, these processes take up around 20% of employees’ working time. Routine tasks such as managing invoices, monitoring payments and receiving payments can take time away from more critical tasks.
By streamlining payment processes, organisations can increase employee productivity and improve the efficiency of time allocation. The UK statistics support the importance of a corporate payment management solution:
– four out of five SMEs go out of business because of financial management problems;
– two out of five owners find it necessary to invest personal funds in the business when financial difficulties arise.
APRON’s product can help eliminate cash flow problems for SMEs. The solution dramatically reduces the time spent dealing with invoices. It automates sorting, approval, and payment, ensuring maximum speed and efficiency.
The platform follows the principle of traditional trade organisation. Back then, all processes took place on the trading floor, where sellers, buyers, and their intermediaries interacted. The APRON solution works on a similar principle, letting accountants, suppliers, and customers manage operations simultaneously. This significantly reduces the amount of time staff spend on payment issues. Another advantage is that the platform integrates with various accounting software and payment reconciliation tools.
About the company
APRON has been on the market since 2021. Its founder is Bogdan Uzbekov. Previously, he managed the fintech company Revolut. The company’s clients are representatives of medium and small businesses who want to simplify their processes. Since the first round of funding, the number of users of APRON’s services has grown 20 times. Every day, the platform handles around one million fast payments and helps process thousands of invoices.
Guillaume Pouza of Zinal Growth praised APRON’s potential. In his opinion, the platform has every chance of becoming an effective solution for B2B companies in various sectors.