BREAKING: C2FO closes $200M investment led by backer of WeWork, Uber, Slack

August 7, 2019  |  Startland News Staff

Sandy Kemper, C2FO

Startup giant C2FO continues its climb to the top, having secured a new $200 million investment — and doubling the amount of its once-record funding raise in fewer than two years. 

“We are very fortunate to have a team who, for years, has delivered industry-leading unit economics, extraordinary customer satisfaction, and strong global growth,” Sandy Kemper, C2FO founder and CEO, said in a release Wednesday.

Updated: Click here to read more of Kemper’s thoughts on the massive funding round, including C2FO’s big challenge: proving it’s worth of Kansas City’s biggest investments.

The chart smashing round — believed to be the largest yet for a venture capital-backed startup in Kansas City — was led by the $108 billion SoftBank Vision Fund, which also has stakes in WeWork, Uber, Slack and DoorDash. The investment places Nahoko Hoshino, vice president of investment at SoftBank Investment Advisers, on the C2FO board of directors. 

Click here to read about C2FO’s previous record setting, $100 million funding round.

John Buttrick, Union Square Ventures

John Buttrick, Union Square Ventures

Investment firms Temasek and Union Square Ventures returned to the table and placed new bets on C2FO, the company said of the round’s additional participants. 

“This infusion of capital from the Vision Fund and existing investors will be used to further our expansion as we strive to build a new world wherein the increased liquidity provided by the C2FO platform helps companies and in turn, entire economies, grow more rapidly,” Kemper said. 

Streamlining the world of working capital, C2FO’s online marketplace has amassed over 300,000 clients in 173 countries — helping them control their cash flow and manage more than $1 billion in funding on a weekly basis, the company explained. 

Such reach and the ability to shake the industry helped attract SoftBank to the energy-rich startup, said Ashkay Naheta, managing partner. 

“We invested in C2FO because we think their disruptive innovation offers a solution to an industry that has traditionally lacked cost-efficient alternatives for businesses of all sizes looking to free up cash quickly,” Naheta said.

Cash injections and the ability to rapidly scale wouldn’t be possible without the C2FO team, Kemper noted. 

 “Due to their work, we have now grown to match over $1.2 trillion of accounts receivable and accounts payable,” he said.

SoftBank believes C2FO and its leaders are equipped with vision that could help the company — which is expected to reach a $1 billion valuation — become the global exchange for working capital, Naheta said. 

Startland will have more on this story as it develops.

startland-tip-jar

TIP JAR

Did you enjoy this post? Show your support by becoming a member or buying us a coffee.

2019 Startups to Watch

    stats here

    Related Posts on Startland News

    Cough Detection

    Predicting sick days: Sickweather showers HR with data on illness mapping, trends

    By Tommy Felts | January 22, 2019

    It’s a partnership more than a year in the making, said Graham Dodge, announcing Sickweather’s deal to help a leading employee benefits company predict workers’ sick days. The Kansas City-based startup is piloting a program among the more than 10,000 employees at Unum Group to give managers more data and insights to plan for absenteeism.…

    Rick Kloog, Vintage WiFi

    Vintage WiFi mashup: Designer converts old items into bluetooth speakers at Troost T-shirt shop

    By Tommy Felts | January 22, 2019

    Rick Kloog’s T-shirt shop on Troost resonates with the sound of side hustles — combining the former music producer’s previously untapped talents for a Vintage WiFi effect. The “funky little vintage store” blends original Kansas City-designed shirts, and miscellaneous items — most of which Kloog converts into bluetooth speakers — as well as other original…

    John Fein

    Firebrand Fein: KC needs more audacious startups, ‘crazy ideas’ to attract investors

    By Tommy Felts | January 19, 2019

    Kansas City companies need to buck the Midwestern, risk-averse mindset and sell audacious plans to investors, said John Fein. “I would just love to see more crazy ideas, more big game type ideas,” said Fein, founder and managing partner at Firebrand Ventures. “We invest when [the startup] starts to generate revenue, so they have to…

    StartupGrowKC bootcamp, ECJC

    StartupGrowKC bootcamp: Building smart and intentional teams alongside ECJC

    By Tommy Felts | January 18, 2019

    Founders can expect to emerge from the Enterprise Center in Johnson County’s StartupGrowKC bootcamp series with greater knowledge of the skills needed to grow their business, said Kathryn Golden. “[Founders will see] the fuller life cycle of what they will need to consider [to be successful],” said Golden, programs manager at ECJC, a nonprofit organization…