Bulgarian fintech Payhawk raises €500K to further expand and help SMEs manage their expenses

Bulgarian fintech Payhawk, a startup that issues next generation company cards and help companies to easily manage their expenses, has raised €500K, Bulgarian media announced. Reportedly the money will be used to further expand their product on the market but also to develop their sales office in London. The round was lead by Eleven Ventures but eight other investors also participate in the funding round including Perry Blacher, Fintech advisor to Google, and Senior Digital Advisor to Barclays UK and Mark Ransford, Investor, and adviser to high-growth startups in the fintech sector.

Founded in August 2018, just six months ago, Payhawk is a payment solution which helps small businesses deal with expenses. As stated by the startup, their target is small and medium-sized (SMEs) companies in Europe. With their product, their corporate cards as well as their software application, they help SMEs to collect and reads data from invoices and receipts, thus eliminating the need for cost statements.

According to Hristo Borisov, the founder of Payhawk ,the greatest benefit of the product is that provides the founders and directors of the companies holding this card to monitor and control their costs in real time. Employees on the other hand don’t have to use their own funds, collect the invoices and then wait for a refund. And last but not least, the accounting is aware of all the movements on the accounts.

“We constantly talk to founders and managers of growing companies that manage large budgets. But when traveling, they have to use their personal cards, and then fill out lengthy expense reports and wait for reimbursements. Our product helps small businesses operate efficiently”, says Borisov.

“The problem for small businesses begins with the use of a corporate map”, he added. “90% of small businesses have no more than one corporate card because of the time they need to collect all payment documents and process the bank statements for each card. On the other hand, it takes more than a month for the current financial report to be processed by the accounting team. Through Payhawk.io, small businesses can easily issue corporate cards to their employees and have real-time information when, how and where funds are spent”, he explains.

The fintech initiated by Borisov and his colleague Boyko Karadjov lunch their product at the beginning of February, practically 20 days ago. Nevertheless, the company is already cooperating with reportedly 11 companies on three different markets: UK, Germany and Bulgaria. The raising potential of Payhawk was also confirmed this January at the one of the biggest Fintech events – Paris Fintech Forum, where was recognized as one of the most innovative startup and won a strategic partnership with the world known payment operators Visa and Wirecard. In the competition participated 50 companies from 18 countries across Europe.

“Building a fintech product requires expertise and knowledge in technology, finance and law to compete in a heavily regulated and competitive market. The presence of so many well-respected investors in this round speaks to the quality and potential of Payhawk.io”, says Daniel Tomov, a partner at Eleven Ventures.

Eleven Ventures is a pre-seed and seed VC based in Sofia, Bulgaria with a focus on entrepreneurs from South Eastern Europe. Eleven is one of the pioneers in early-stage investments in Eastern Europe, comprising a team of entrepreneurs and investment professionals passionate about the world of technology and innovation. With 150 collective investments according to the fund, their team has gained a great knowledge on how to transform a startup into a scaleup in a capital efficient way.