Aria, a new French fintech launches on the B2B BNPL

To accelerate its development, Aria raises 50 million euros in debt from the British institutional fund M&G, a leading European investor.

The start-up created in early 2020, originally to enable freelancers to benefit from a fixed remuneration, launches an invoice financing solution for freelancers, SMEs and VSEs.
Aria raises €50 million in funding capacity from UK institutional fund M&G.
Aria is the first French fintech to collaborate with the British institutional fund, known for being very selective.
Its start-up provides companies with software to simplify invoicing. And above all, it allows them to advance funds to pay their freelance recruits.
Aria claims a monthly growth of 18% and its clients call on some 8,500 freelancers.
The company directly addresses the BtoB networking marketplace. Its clients include companies such as Malt, Staffme and Proprioo.
The startup aims to recruit 15 people in 2023 for its technology and product departments, operations and finance, and marketing and sales.

A competitive advantage in the SME and VSE market : Aria intends to enable companies to pay their freelancers within 24 hours, and at the same time help them stand out in a context of talent shortage. In concrete terms, Aria advances the costs to pay service providers as quickly as possible, based on the Buy Now, Pay Later model, until the client company can pay.
An extension of its business model : Originally, Aria offered advances directly to freelancers, paying them a fixed salary that was supposed to smooth out their income over several months. It then gets reimbursed by the companies (within 30, 40 or 60 days), charging a commission on each payment (between 1 and 4%) as well as a fixed fee per freelancer, between 5 and 20 euros depending on the company. With the strength of its position with these companies, the start-up is extending its financing offer to include invoice payments.
A buoyant market : There are more than three million freelancers in France, according to INSEE. "There are more and more freelancers, especially since the pandemic and the rise of telecommuting. Also, in times of crisis, companies tend to call on these profiles more.

In twelve months, Aria has multiplied its business volume by 20, exceeding the 100 million euro mark in terms of financing for its clients.
Defacto, a fintech financed to the tune of €3 million, which offers a simplified credit solution to SMEs, is another example.
The BNPL B2B market is a very broad market that also attracts players in the larger SME and large enterprise segments. This is the case of Allianz Trade, which has signed several partnerships in recent months with Pledg, Santander and Two and more recently Fintecture.

Category : Alertes quotidiennes