Force Over Mass leads GBP 115m round for Outfund

The company intends to use the fresh capital to invest in new products, lend more to businesses by increasing its lending limit to GBP 10m per company, hire more staff, and expand globally. 

Wouter Volckaert, partner at FOM and board member at the company, said the VC participated in the company in the last round but could only invest GBP 1m as the seed raise was crowded. In this round, FOM deployed GBP 5.6m through Force Over Mass IV, which held its final close in 2020 at EUR 103m.

Fund IV is in its final investment year and the VC is gearing up for its fifth fund at the end of this year, Volckaert said.

FOM was introduced to Outfund through a group of super angels. "We invested in the company as, globally, the market for revenue-based financing is huge and much more efficient than banks in the modern age. [Revenue-based lenders] can provide a loan in 24 hours whereas a traditional bank takes up to three months. There are quite a few revenue-based lenders out there; the collective market share of these companies is tiny. We are not even touching 0.1% of what banks are lending, so there is huge growth opportunity," Volckaert told Unquote.

In December 2020, Outfund raised GBP 37m in a late seed round of capital — including debt and equity — led by Fuel Ventures and TMT Investments, according to Volckaert. Further funding rounds will likely be held in the next 1-2 years, according to Volckaert.

FOM has previously backed businesses operating in the fintech space, including London-based Banked, a developer of an account-to-account payment software platform in February 2022; and Berlin-based Banxware, a Saas provider of Embedded Financial Services, in December 2021.

Outfund lends funds to online SMEs without requiring equity. The company aims to loan over GBP 500m in 2022 to 5,000 businesses globally. Outfund's revenues grew sixfold last year, according to a press release. The company acquired Spain-based Clicfund in 2021. The deal was financed by cash from the last equity round and Outfund earned back the acquisition in a month, according to Volckaert. Further acquisitions will be opportunistic, as the goal is to grow organically. Much like the acquisition of the Spanish revenue-based lender, Outfund will consider bolt-ons to expand into new markets.

Company
Outfund is a London-headquartered revenue-based finance company that was founded by CEO Daniel Lipinski in 2017. It can deploy between GBP 10,000 and GBP 10m in funding, which is available to businesses that take online payments, generate GBP 10,000 in monthly turnover, and have been trading for at least six months. The company seeks to simplify borrowing and lending money by offering repayment plans that suit the business with an agreed revenue share, among other flexible options. According to the company's website, it has GBP 200m to invest in 2022. Outfund has offices in the UK, Spain, Australia, and the US, and employs 65 staff.

People
Outfund – Daniel Lipinski (CEO, founder).
Force Over Mass – Wouter Volckaert (partner).
Fuel Ventures – Mark Pearson (managing partner).

Advisors
Equity – Force Over Mass, Blears (legal); Outfund, Gordons (legal).

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Expansion
• UK / Ireland
• Technology
• United Kingdom
• Venture