NAB and Royal Bank of Canada have been leading contributors to a US$24 million (AU$32 million) Series D funding round in Toronto-based cloud fintech company, Wave.
NAB led the funding round in the burgeoning fintech, which delivers cloud-based financial management software including accounting, invoicing, and payroll with s integrated financial services such as credit card processing and lending.
Melissa Widner, NAB Ventures & Kirk Simpson CEO Wave
“We all know that small businesses power the global economy, and nobody understands Australian small businesses better than NAB. We look forward to exploring together how to serve those business owners better,” Wave’s CEO and Co-Founder Kirk Simpson said of the new relationship with NAB, Australia’s largest business bank.
“At Wave we believe that the way to help small businesses succeed is with powerfully integrated financial services and software.
“By helping business owners manage their cash flow, prepare for tax time and gain actionable business insights, Wave covers the spectrum of a small business owner’s financial life, and helps their businesses grow and thrive,” Simpson said.
Wave, which already has 35,000 active users in Australia, is looking for growth opportunities in the Australia-Pacific market, building on its more than two and a half million small business customers in more than 200 countries around the world.
“We also believe that innovative partnerships between technology companies and world-class banks will lead to transformative solutions in the market. In NAB and RBC, Wave has forward-looking, innovative bank partners on two continents, opening the door to those transformations,” he said.
NAB Ventures General Partner Melissa Widner said that while it was too early to say what this relationship could lead to, collaboration between bank and accounting technologies were pivotal to providing improved customer experiences, particularly in the small business space.
“We were impressed with how Wave’s offering gives entrepreneurs the tools they need to be successful, along with the fact their invoicing and accounting software are free with customers able to purchase additional financial services to suit their requirements as needed,” Widner said.
“As the largest business bank in Australia with over 450,000 small and medium business customers, we are interested in any emerging technologies in this space that provide customers with a connected experience.”
The Series D funding round also included investments from Silicon Valley venture firms CRV and Social Capital, global funds OurCrowd and Harbourvest, as well as Canadian investors OMERS Ventures, BDC IT Venture Fund, BDC Capital and Portag3.
NAB Ventures has the right to appoint an observer to the Wave board.
