Raylo secures £110 million in working capital, achieves B-Corp status

London-based tech refurb/subscription platform Raylo has secured £110 million in a debt financing package provided by NatWest and Quilam Capital. As expected given Raylo’s vertical, the working capital is expected to be used to fund growth and product expansion. Since mid-June 2019, Raylo has raised in excess of £150 million.

Beginning life as an iPhone subscription platform, Raylo has expanded well beyond iOS and now armed with £110 million is clearly aiming to take on the likes of major players including those of Grover and Back Market.

According to the company, their subscriber base has grown over 100 percent year on year, and now due in part to inflation rates skyrocketing in the UK, the company expects growth to only accelerate as consumers are leaning more and more on options other than outright purchases to get wanted tech into their hands.

One driver behind this prediction is the company’s checkout integration for merchants (Raylo Pay), where, according to the company, the pipeline of retailers has grown 10x in the last 6 months to a £3 billion per annum opportunity. 

Helping the company mitigate risks, and presumably keep financiers happy, Raylo is employing AI models and open banking data to mitigate risk, and reports achieving credit approval rates for high-value consumer electronics orders exceeding £1,000 on average.

"Raylo is solving a real problem for consumers, who are increasingly looking for more affordable and sustainable ways to access the latest technology," commented Raylor CSO and co-founder Richard Fulton. "We are confident that Raylo's innovative approach and use of technology will continue to drive strong growth and success in the future."

According to a statement released by the company, in combination with the debt funding announcement, they’ve achieved B Corp status as of the 23rd of December of last year (not that's a Christmas present) due in part to a sustainability report that “underlines that over 50 percent of emissions can be saved by extending the life of existing products and avoiding unnecessary overproduction of new products.”

"B Corp is the globally leading impact framework, and provides us with a clear path to improve as we pursue our vision of scaling the circular economy and a more financially inclusive world," said Raylo co-founder Karl Gilbert.