Fintech startup Balance has completed a $56 million Series B round of funding

Fintech startup Balance, which develops an e-commerce payments platform, has completed a $56 million Series B round of funding. The round was led by Forerunner and included investors Hubspot Ventures, Lyra Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, and Gramercy Ventures.

A series of leading investors from the field of B2B sales participated in the fundraising round, including the former CMO of Shopify and the founder and CTO of the successful B2B marketplace Faire. They joined existing investors in Balance, including Ribbit, Lightspeed, Avid Ventures, Upwest and Jibe. The current fundraising brings the total investment in the company since its inception to 87 million dollars.
Balance was founded in 2020 by PayPal alumni Bar Giron, who serves as CEO and Yoni Shuster, VP of Technologies. Balance strives to be the leading payment system for commerce between businesses on the Internet. With B2B transactions accounting for approximately 90% of global trade volume, and estimates for total payment volume ranging from $120-180 trillion, Balance's market opportunity is the largest imaginable. The company employs 60 people, the investment funds will be used to hire employees for the development center in Israel and the offices in New York and to expand the deployment of the platform in new sales sites and areas.
"During my work at PayPal, I realized that the potential of payments in e-commerce is far from being utilized," says Bar Giron, CEO and co-founder of Balance. "We are in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution, which will take global commerce to the Internet and create for the first time a truly sophisticated market. By 2025, 30% of payments are expected to go online. We are proud to be a leading factor in this revolution, to change centuries-old systems and bring them into the modern age through the power of digitization. All the efficiency we are doing in the field of trade is a net contribution to reducing product prices and the cost of living around the world."
Balance's platform allows sales websites to offer their customers to pay in a variety of ways, including issuing checks, bank transfers or credit cards under flexible payment terms and receive the money immediately. The technology also allows companies in traditional industries, including food, steel, wood, chemicals, steel and clothing to move to an e-commerce model similar to the consumer market and enjoy the benefits of widespread online sales. Among the largest customers in these areas are Vallourec, one of the largest steel corporations in the world, employing approximately 20,000 workers, MaterialsXchange, a website for buying and selling wood; ChemDirect, a marketplace for companies needing supplies of chemicals, Abound, a wholesale marketplace for retailers and notch, a platform for restaurants and distributors. Balance currently works with 300 leading sales websites in the world, including Notch, Everywhere Apparel, Bryzos, Felux, and more, and in partnerships with Shopify Plus, Fabric and Magento.
Kirsten Green, founder and managing partner at Forerunner, who led the fundraising round: "For years, the consumer sector led the modernization in the execution of transactions, while the business-to-business sector lagged far behind. We see tremendous potential in bringing modernization to B2B commerce as well. The opportunity in this market is enormous - Only 5% of the B2B payments volume amounting to 120 trillion dollars is conducted digitally today, so the growth possibilities are enormous. We are happy to cooperate with Barr and the people of Balance as they work to accelerate the change in this industry."
Navi Cullen, director at Salesforce Ventures: "The revolution in B2B commerce requires a new infrastructure of fintech technology. Balance's payment platform meets this need and we believe it will become a standard in the industry. We are excited to collaborate with Barr and the company's team and their broad understanding of the unique needs required to create a revolution in payments between companies on the Internet"