Lending marketplace Become raises $12.5m in bid to be ‘Expedia of business loans’

Business lending fintech Become has raised $12.5m as it bids to become “the Expedia of business loans”.

The Israeli start-up completed a Series A funding round led by venture capital firms, Benson Oak Ventures and Magenta Venture Partners.

The business lending marketplace said it will use the cash to add new services, expand internationally and boost staff numbers.

The start-up offers small firms a range of financing, such as asset-backed loans, invoice factoring and unsecured business loans. It has over 50 lenders on its platform, including PayPal, OnDeck and Kabbage.

‘Reflecting dreams’

It said it has so far loaned $175m to more than 75,000 small firms, since the business was founded by entrepreneurs, Iri Amirav (pictured, right), Amir Leitersdorf (pictured, left) and Guy Zipori (not pictured) and chief executive Eden Amirav (pictured, centre) in 2016.

The firm, intent on emulation global travel platform Expedia, said its artificial intelligence algorithms are able to match eligible businesses with relevant lenders in less than 24 hours.

Become said: “The platform presents funding offers in a clean, clear and easy-to-use interface – giving businesses the power to compare and choose the best funding option for them. Think of it as the Expedia for business loans.”

In July, the platform changed its name from LendingExpress to Become. At the time the firm said the new name “captures and reflects our dream to help businesses become more and secure funding”.

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