London-based fintech startup Crezco has raised £9.6m for its invoice and payments services targeting business-to-business SMEs.
Founded in 2020, Crezco works with small businesses to provide account-to-account (A2A) payment services and invoice processing through open banking.
Crezco targets B2B platforms that are looking to replace the use of manual bank transfers and paper invoices.
“A2A payments allows Crezco’s partners to move the point of payment from the bank to their platform,” said Crezco founder and CEO Ralph Rogge.
“This is not just a domestic transfer solution. We connect real-time payments everywhere and it’s one of the most obvious examples of embedded payments.”
The latest funding round for the startup came from MMC Ventures and 13books Capital. Michael McFadgen, co-founder and partner at 13books Capital said it was Crezco’s “continued focus” on SMEs and their “payment challenges, domestic and international” that made the group invest.
Crezco has announced alongside the funding an extension of its work with long-time partner Xero, which has agreed to integrate Crezco’s tech into its platform.
Using Crezco’s A2A payments API, Xero will offer on-platform bill payments to customers in the UK.
“The agreement between Xero and Crezco is a great opportunity for open banking to address SME payments in the UK and, over time, internationally”, said Oliver Richards a partner at MMC Ventures.
Crezco previously raised £3m in a funding round in October 2021.
Rogge recently called for the government to extend the research and development tax relief scheme for startups in the next Autumn Statement.
Speaking to UKTN, Rogge said: “Increasing R&D tax relief, or expanding the scope of qualifying expenditure, should be top of the agenda. If the UK hopes to become a science and tech ‘superpower’, businesses need to be able to properly invest in technology and innovation.”