The founders aged 20 and 22 of affinity collect $ 17 million led by signalfire only 6 months after a seed of $ 11 million
The founders of Affiniti, Aaron Bai, 20, and Sahil Phadnis, 22, build the type of spending software for small businesses on the street Main Street that technological startups have been appreciating for years.
Their growth was so impressive that six months after collecting a series of $ 11 million seeds, they raised a series A of $ 17 million, led by Signal Fire, they told Techcrunch exclusively.
Affiniti offers SMEs such as pharmacies, CVC companies and customizable automobile dealerships management cards and software management similar to the type of goods launched by Brex and Ramp.
But small traditional businesses already have credit card options in Gogo from the American Express and Capital One as well as traditional banks. Why would they choose Affiniti?
Because, says Bai, the startup offers what he calls “V3” of Fintech. In his opinion, v.1 is traditional banks and credit cards. Brex and Ramp represent V2, which has brought an improved UX design and better access to the financial data generated by expenses.
“V3, in our opinion, is a fintech product that can really advise end users and give them analyzes,” explains Bai. “These small traditional companies do not have a financial team.”
The A series A CASH will help the launch features of startups such as the bank, the remuneration of invoices, the analysis of cash flows and integrations with more software such as business resources planning and points of sale applications.
Currently, it offers features such as personalized money rewards, native QuickBooks “QBO” files – not just CSV files – and short -term loans, up to 90 days, against bills.
Interestingly, unlike so many founders in their twenties, Affiniti did not come from a start -up school like Y Combinator. They didn’t have to do so, the founders said. They met when they attended UC Berkeley, which helped them to form a solid network in Silicon Valley for introductions to VCS and others. And they also proposed a marketing movement alone, in partnership with specific commercial groups, such as those of independent pharmacies, they said.
This has not only helped to validate the startup to potential customers, but gave them immediate access to features such as group purchase discounts. “We are actually trying to boil the ocean when it comes to working with each SME in America,” said Phadnis. “We select some vertical slots with complex cash flows.”
All this worked well enough for Affiniti to light up, during its first 14 months, from zero to 1,800 customers and around $ 20 million per month in volume of transactions, said Phadnis. The founders believe that the platform is on the right track at $ 1 billion in transactions by the end of the year.
As the startup earns most of its money on transactions interchange costs – although it also sells SaaS software and earns interest income on these short -term loans – this has meant rapid revenue growth.
While the founders would not reveal their current income, Phadnis offered a You-Do-the-Math index: income has increased by about 10 times in a year. “12 months ago, we were a million dollars. So 10x is a lot,” he said, smiling.
Other investors in the A series include the capital of Codie Sanchez’s contrari thought, Yahya Mokhtarzada (founder of Truebill) and Austin Rief (founder of Morning Brew), says the startup.
Seeds of Indicator Ventures, Lightshed Ventures and Riverpark Ventures have also participated. Affiniti had also signed a debt ease of $ 15 million, capable of growing at $ 50 million, with its first round of seeds, he said.
