Revenue-based financing platform Wayflyer brings in $150 million, now at $1.6 billion valuation

Dublin-based revenue-based financing platform Wayflyer has raised $150 million in an all-equity Series B funding round, and in doing so, joins the unicorn club at a $1.6 billion valuation. A portion of the funding is slated to be used to double the startups’ headcount to a robust 500+ staff within the next six to nine months, as well as increase the amount of capital it is able to provide to qualified clients. Since October of 2020 Wayflyer has raised approximately $336 million.

Wayflyer is now the sixth home-grown unicorn for the Emerald Isle, and the fastest to achieve unicorn status, having garnered the title in just 2.5 years.

Much like their competitors, Wayflyer provides non-dilutive, revenue-based debt funding to fledgling companies, and in the case of e-commerce, paves the way for the advanced purchasing of inventory. I.e. working capital.

Having only gone live in April of 2020, Wayflyer has distributed over $500 million to qualified businesses, with 2021’s year-over-year number rising a staggering 900 percent, and typically issues a ticket size ranging between $10,000 and $20 million. The company counts a healthy 800 customers across 11 countries and has a staff of approximately 250 working from Dublin, London, New York, Atlanta, and Sydney.

So far, so standard, really, perhaps save for that ticket size (see table below), but where Wayflyer does stand apart from the competition is by means of a suite of detailed analytics that are provided to help clients improve their sales performance. Sure, there’s a win/win factor going on here, but as the saying goes, “a rising tide lifts all boats”.

And if you’ve been playing along at home, crack out another row in your revenue-based financing bingo card, as we’ll need to insert Wayflyer

Wayflyer’s $150 million Series B round was co-led by DST Global and QED Investors, with newcomers Prosus, Madrone Capital Partners, and J.P. Morgan joining the cap table. Existing investors Left Lane Capital and Checkout.com founder Guillaume Pousaz also participated in the round.