Mr Viral
Billboxx, a Nigerian fintech offering invoicing and cash flow solutions to Small and Medium businesses (SMEs) has raised a $1.6 million pre-seed funding round. The company plans to use the capital to scale its operations, hire new talent and expand product features.
The $1.6 million, a mix of debt and equity, was raised from Norrsken Accelerator, Kaleo Ventures, 54 Collective, P2Vest, and Afrinovation Ventures.
Founded in 2023 by Justus Obaoye and Abdulazeez Ogunjobi, Billboxx aims to solve cash flow issues faced by SMEs that often struggle with long or delayed payment cycles from their larger enterprise partners. Billboxx invoice financing means SMEs can receive those advance payments before the clients pay, a crucial cashflow solution for any business.
However, customers must first receive approval from their enterprise customers before payment is approved. BillBoxx charges up to 5% for invoice financing and 1.5% transaction fees for payments done on its platform.
The company, which claims to process ₦1 billion monthly, also says it has no defaults.
“We realised that every business we have interacted with had a lot of billing inefficiencies and cash flow problems. Some of them still do invoices manually or with Excel sheets,” said Obaoye.
The startup, which primarily serves small to mid-sized businesses (SMEs), also offers other business banking services to help SMEs manage their finances more effectively.
Billboxx claims its unique distribution model allows it to acquire SMEs through partnerships with larger enterprises on its roster. Billboxx serves businesses like Monument distillers, and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). Obaoye emphasises that the business differentiates itself by providing a solution tailored to small and medium-sized businesses, unlike competitors who focus more on mid-market to enterprise businesses.
“We plan to become the financial operating system for SMEs in Africa,” Obaoye said.
Billboxx plans to expand across Africa and will launch a new feature that will allow SMEs access new market opportunities within corporate ecosystems. Obaoye didn’t share further information about the feature.
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