European fintech, Hokodo, has announced a successful Series B funding round, securing $40 million in equity less than a year after their Series A fundraise. The funding, which comes on the back of a significant debt raise earlier this year, will power the digital trade credit provider’s expansion into new European markets and the development of new products.

Led by Notion Capital, who participated in Hokodo’s Series A, further investment came from continental European investors Korelya Capital (FR), Mundi Ventures (ES), and Opera Tech Ventures (FR), reflecting the enthusiasm for Hokodo’s product in a variety of markets. Additional funding came from existing investors including Anthemis and Mosaic Ventures.

“We’ve been following Hokodo since the beginning and made an initial investment as part of their Series A. We’re delighted to lead their Series B and double down on our support of Hokodo,” said Patrick Norris, General Partner at Notion Capital. “There’s a lot of excitement around B2B BNPL at the moment, and rightly so because the B2B Ecommerce market is twice as large as B2C. We concluded that the capability and maturity gap between Hokodo and their competitors is enormous. Not only are they the only provider to offer pan-European coverage, but they’re the only one owning the end-to-end value chain. As a result Hokodo is the only firm able to deliver a cutting-edge purchasing experience across the continent.”

Enabling online trade through proprietary tech  

“We’re the only BNPL provider that meets all requirements of B2B merchants, including credit scoring, fraud detection, payments, collections, financing and credit insurance,” said Richard Thornton, co-founder and co-CEO at Hokodo. “We don’t rely on any third party to make credit decisions as we can do it much quicker in-house. This means we can accept more buyers at a faster rate, which our merchant partners love.”

Hokodo’s solutions are underwritten by SCOR Syndicate 2015, SCOR SE’s corporate syndicate at Lloyd’s of London, allowing the fintech to guarantee its merchants 100% of their payments, even when the buyer is unable to pay. 

International expansion & vertical ventures

With new merchants recently onboarded in France (Paris Fashion Shops) and Spain (Katoo), following launches in Belgium and the Netherlands (Ankorstore) earlier this year, a portion of the new funding will see the brand double down its efforts to become the B2B BNPL category leader in continental Europe, replicating its reputation and success to date in early markets.

The funding will also be used to develop new BNPL solutions for telesales and in-store purchases, and see Hokodo venture into new verticals currently underserved by payments companies.

Setting the new standard for B2B payments

Louis Carbonnier, co-founder and co-CEO at Hokodo, said: “The B2B purchasing experience has long lagged behind its B2C counterpart, and business customers are calling for higher quality services as online sales continue to gain ground in B2B. Hokodo provides merchants with a truly real-time credit solution at checkout, driving up conversion rates and enabling all parties to buy, sell and do more. Hokodo is currently the only pan-European Buy Now, Pay Later  provider in B2B, and this funding will allow us to continue our international expansion to enable 1 million businesses to access a better way to pay by 2025.”