Liberis has closed a £32 million round in its largest equity capital fundraise to date.

This investment represents the FinTech’s first institutional equity fundraise and was led by FTV Capital. Liberis is already backed by Blenheim Chalcot, with this latest round bringing total debt and equity funding to over £150 million.

Since its inception in 2017, the startup has provided over 15,000 small businesses with more than £450 million in funding; of which the majority has come through its innovative funding-as-a-service platform with integrated partners.

Liberis’ strategic partners, which include four of the world’s largest merchant acquirers, currently white-label its finance platform to offer funding to their own small business customers.

The last 18 months have seen expansion into five new countries, including the UK, US, Sweden, Czech Republic, Slovak and Finland. This new investment will support the business as it further expands its footprint in the US and in two new European countries, as well as attracting the best talent with a 30 per cent increase in headcount planned for the next year.

Chief executive Rob Straathof commented: “Small businesses are the lifeblood of the global economy, yet they continue to be turned away by banks and traditional lenders or faced with unhelpful repayment terms and complex processes.

“We are delighted with this investment from FTV Capital as it means we can continue to onboard new partners, expand our product range and grow our team in order to serve the 50 million small businesses across the US, Europe and the UK with much needed funding.”

Jerome Hershey, senior investment advisor at FTV Capital - who will join the board - said: “To support a significant growth trajectory as it expands internationally across Europe and in the United States, Liberis can now leverage our Global Partner Network, a group of leading finance and payments enterprises that have helped FTV portfolio companies for two decades.”

To strengthen its global operations, Liberis recently appointed general managers for both the US and Europe. Howard Kramen joins as general manager for the US, having previously led PayPal’s global credit operations, while Pedram Tadayon joins as Europe general manager, bringing 20 years of financial services industry experience to Liberis, having previously been chief executive of Emric, along with senior positions held at Nets, EnterCard and American Express.

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