Toronto-based digital lending platform Ario has announced a $10 million investment from Purpose Financial LP.
The funding will go towards expanding its banking-as-a-service technology platform targeting small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Ario lending-as-a-service platform allows enterprises to provide their customers with financing, including invoice financing, payroll financing, and working capital. The platform is also being used to power the BillMarket solution, which offers invoice-financing options to expedite payment terms between suppliers and customers. Thinking Capital, which was acquired by Purpose Fianncial in March 2018, and Equifax launched BillMarket in July 2018.
“The Ario digital lending platform was developed to provide digital automated banking solutions for SMEs, a typically underserved segment of the North American financial market,” said Avinash Chidambaram, CEO of Ario. “We’re supporting incumbent financial firms, technology companies and non-financial firms to enable them to provide easy financing solutions and broader financial products to their clients.”
The company will use the investment to launch its white-label digital lending solutions and account management services. The funding will also allow Ario to expand into card issuance and cash management for SME loans, to give enterprise clients the ability to offer financial services to their own customers.
“Small businesses require many different forms of financing to run and grow their businesses and these customers are currently significantly underserved by the market. Small business owners are digitally savvy and expect integrated experiences that allow them to focus on their business instead of worrying about money. That includes, for example instant and mobile access to working capital to fund new equipment or tie over payrolls. This investment from Purpose will allow us to continue to develop and offer digital solutions to support the industry and meet the needs of the modern small business,” said Chidambaram.
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