Revenue-based financing startup Fivot raises JPY 1bn

Fivot, which operates “Flex Capital”, a financing business for startups, and “IDARE”, a savings application for individuals, has raised JPY 1bn (~USD 7m) in a Series A round, with Angel Bridge as lead investor, and participation from SBI Investment, SuMi Trust Innovation Fund, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, SMBC Venture Capital, Shinsei Corporate Investment Group, Sony Innovation Fund, as well as existing investors DEEPCORE and Canal Ventures.

Fivot will use the funds raised to invest in the following areas with the aim of further growing their services:

• Acquisition of Flex Capital clients and expansion of services offered to them
• Investments in credit models and data analysis platforms that will enhance the quality of the screening process
• Further development of systems to improve efficiency of loan operations
• Recruitment of human resources for product and business teams

In addition, Fivot announced that it aims to raise a cumulative total of JPY 5bn in financing over the next year.

Flex Capital offers three types of services:

• An “Invoice Advancement” factoring service, which provides advance payment of invoices that D2C/EC businesses need to pay
• “Revenue Based Finance,” which realizes future sales in advance for businesses that are in the recurring business and
• “Venture Debt,” which increases the flexibility of management of startups

Fivot applies a unified credit model for each product, and provides debt financing in a single package to startups as they grow, from early to late, by matching the nature of the financing to the characteristics and stage of the business.

Fivot believes that startups should be provided with a variety of financing options, and that efficient financing should be expanded according to the stage of the company and its financing needs. Effective use of debt financing allows for flexible financing that does not rely solely on the issuance of equity.

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