Recurring revenue as an asset class is a relatively new concept, and made more popular by startups such as Pipe, which has built a marketplace connecting investors to companies with businesses that have predictable, recurring revenues.
While Pipe has gone on to so far raise over $300 million and was valued at $2 billion last year, another player has quietly been building a company in the same space with a laser focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in global supply chains. That player, Crowdz, recently secured $10 million in financing co-led by Citi and Dutch growth equity firm Global Cleantech Capital, with participation from Bold Capital Partners, TFX Ventures and Augment Ventures.
Put simply, Crowdz started out by giving small and medium-sized businesses a way to sell invoices for financing to funders. Now, the company aims to help companies with recurring revenue access upfront capital they need without having to dilute their equity by taking venture dollars or take on loans. Specifically, its latest offering is designed to serve subscription, membership and SaaS (software-as-a-service) service companies. For its part, Pipe came out of the gate with the same SaaS focus but has since expanded to working with non-SaaS companies as well.
