We're pleased to announce our growth investment in ConnexPay, the first and only payments technology company that integrates payments acceptance and issuance inside a single platform.
The $110M growth equity investment led by FTV Capital will enable ConnexPay to drive international expansion in Europe and beyond and continue enhancing its innovative payments platform. With 500 percent net revenue growth YTD 2022, ConnexPay will expand its reach into new verticals and geographies. Existing investor F-Prime Capital also participated in the funding round. It has been a remarkable journey over the past few years. We are proud to be a primary capital provider from the first round of institutional capital and committed to the future that ConnexPay will continue to build.
"It's been a wonderful journey with ConnexPay thus far. It's amazing that Bob and Jacob were sitting in our conference room four and a half years ago with a slide deck and a vision. Today ConnexPay is the hands-down leader in intermediary merchant payments with a team of 60+ employees across four offices and on two continents, said Mark Buffington, Managing Partner at BIP Ventures. BIP Partner and Co-Lead Austin Poole added, "there have been many highs (launch of product, first live transaction, crossing $1B in payment volume, last week's Series C financing) and a few lows (initial product launch delay, Covid Pandemic, travel uncertainty), but the journey of being a partner from Seed to Series C is a testament to the work the team continues to do and our commitment to backing exceptional founders."
2018 Timeline: Original Seed Investment
BIP Ventures led the pre-product, pre-revenue seed round in 2018 for an entirely novel concept with four early customers that were beta-testing the product. Panoramic joined the board, and the business used the capital to bring the product to market.
2019 Timeline: Product Launch Series A Investment
In early 2019, ConnexPay launched the product with initial customers with initial solid traction, and revenue scaled rapidly as the business scaled based on customer referrals. BIP Ventures led the Series A investment round in mid-2019 to provide ConnexPay with additional capital to build on the early product-market fit momentum by building a solid team.
2020 Timeline: Global Covid Pandemic Bridge Round
The Global Covid Pandemic hits, and travel, and thus 'travel payments,' skids to a halt, payment volumes plummet to 0, and CXP customers struggle. The mass adoption of teleconference platforms, remote work, and digital collaboration creates uncertainty around the timing and magnitude of travel recovery.
BIP Ventures provides bridge capital in April 2020 to ensure the business can weather the storm to help support the company through the trough and potentially capitalize as legacy payments competitors retreat from the travel market. In late 2020, domestic travel slowly returns as the US reopens and ConnexPay begins adding customers faster in company history. However, the business is still depressed due to limited travel activity because of Covid, so Panoramic and F-Prime Capital provide additional bridge capital to capitalize on rapid customer acquisition.
2021 Timeline: Exponential Growth
ConnexPay effectively weathers the storm of the pandemic and embarks on an exponential growth path as travel continues its recovery, with domestic travel reaching pre-pandemic levels by Q4 2021.
Timeline: Today and Beyond
ConnexPay's rapid growth continues and begins to expand beyond travel and accelerates its expansion outside of the US. FTV Capital, a sector-focused growth equity investor, BIP Ventures, and F Prime partner on the Series C round to provide ConnexPay with additional capital to aggressively pursue expansion and international opportunities.
"Over the past several years, we have forged a remarkable relationship with the Panoramic team as a capital partner and look forward to the next stage of growth that will accelerate success for ConnexPay," said Robert Kaufman, founder, and CEO at ConnexPay. "We value the opportunity to work with investors who share our vision of not only transforming the entire payments experience for the travel industry but also for other payment intermediary companies both in the U.S. and around the world. With both BIP Ventures and FTV Capital astutely focused on our growth, ConnexPay is uniquely positioned to double down existing markets and win new territories locally and abroad."
ConnexPay has also proven successful in serving as a Bank Identification Number (BIN) sponsor and card processor to power fintech and other corporations with its innovative platform. The company's patent-pending Intelligent Purchases Routing technology chooses and automatically issues the type of virtual card from more than 40+ BINs to optimize the payment based on desired results.
"I'm thrilled when I think about how much the ConnexPay team has accomplished and persevered through to date, but even more excited for what the future has in store from this point forward," said Poole. "New opportunities and challenges await, but I don't think we could have chosen a better partner than FTV. I look forward to continuing to work with Bob and am excited to collaborate with Adam Hallquist and Chris Winship (FTV) on the board as ConnexPay embarks on its next chapter."
BIP Venturesis excited to continue investing in this latest funding round that will help ConnexPay grow its national and global footprint to be a key player in the payments space.
You can read the full funding release here.
