Fintech
Small Business-Focused FinTech Wamo Raises $5M
London-based FinTech Wamoo raised $5 million to develop banking solutions focused on small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
In addition to growth investing, CEO and founder The Yanki-Onen he said on the company blog On Thursday (July 18), wamo also obtained its Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license.
“Together, they give us the license and tools to develop even more innovative fintech products and support more customers in more markets with greater speed and efficiency, ready to meet growing business needs,” Onen said.
He said the funding will enable Wamo to integrate new solutions such as invoicing, accounting and credit, allowing business owners to focus on running their business, while the EMI license paves the way for easier expansion into Europe.
“From the beginning, our vision has been to break down barriers to SMB growth and, by prioritizing customer-centric support, revolutionize the way businesses access financial services,” Onen wrote.
“We sought to make business accounts more accessible, transparent and inclusive. We saw the untapped potential to leverage emerging technology to innovate and improve the banking experience and set out to create an agile platform that could continue to evolve and leverage these advances to unlock new opportunities for your business.”
Also in the area of SMB financing, PYMNTS wrote earlier this week about bundled lending, which can help these companies grow and enjoy smooth operations despite unstable cash flows.
“However, the latest study from PYMNTS Intelligence finds that relatively few microenterprises and small businesses are currently taking advantage of this lending solution,” the report said. “In fact, fewer than one in five respondents have used it in the past year. The data highlights unmet needs for access to lending, especially among microenterprises.”
Research – “How Embedded Loans Can Increase Small Business Growth and Stability,” a PYMNTS Intelligence report commissioned by Visa — found that more than 7 in 10 of these companies that used this lending solution in the past year reported high satisfaction with the business credit tools available to them.
Further research conducted by PYMNTS Intelligence earlier this year showed that one-third of Main Street business owners said borrowing costs remain a concern, with 90% of SMEs claiming to have relied on at least one type of lending instrument through 2023.
And nearly three-quarters of those companies have turned to revolving credit products, such as credit cards and lines of credit, making them the most popular method of lending.
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