London-based, Bulgarian founded fintech Payhawk raises $20 million in Series A round

Company payments and expense management firm Payhawk has closed a $20 million Series A round, almost one year to date after a $3.6 million seed round.

The financing round was led by QED, a US-based fund that has invested in 18 fintech unicorns including Klarna and Nubank, with existing investor Earlybird Digital East following on. As part of the deal, Yusuf Ozdalga from QED will join the Payhawk board alongside existing investors Mehmet Atici from Earlybird Digital East and Vassil Terziev from Eleven Ventures.

The investment is slated to further develop the company’s product offering as well as expand the headcount. Likewise, AI and machine learning capabilities are on Payhawk’s roadmap, as the company plans to introduce smart workflows, thus reducing the need for manual review and approval.

“We are delighted to invest in Payhawk. The company is growing at a phenomenal rate. The company’s product fundamentals are exceptionally strong, and industry trends are working in the company’s favour too. As budgets are more typically managed online by remote teams, there is unprecedented demand for cost-effective finance solutions,” comments Ozdalga.

Co-founded in 2018 by Boyko Karadzhov, Hristo Borisov, and Konstantin Djengozov, Payhawk provides a one-stop-shop for corporate payments, invoices, and expense management. Through homogenising a set of disconnected tools, Payhawk helps reduce manual work for finance teams, as well as allowing them to keep a close eye on budgets, all in real-time.

Payhawk is reporting 10x growth in 2020, and doubled revenues in Q1 2021. Their current customer base consists of well-known brands including Lotto24, Viking Life, ATU, Gtmhub, MacPaw and By Miles.

“We plan to significantly expand our integrations to existing ERP systems, and also easily connect on top of every business bank account across Europe and beyond. To do this, we need to invest in building the right setup and team to scale further, and the new funding round will enable us to do this,” comments Payhawk CEO Hristo Borisov.