A financing platform for early-stage companies has been launched following a £2.5m pre-seed round of fundraising.
London-headquartered Debite is on a mission to help businesses more effectively manage their cash flow and maximise their growth potential.
The launch followed Debite’s £2.5m pre-seed equity funding round, plus debt financing, from FinTech funds and angel investors, including backing PlatformXit, co-founded by the former CEO of Mox Bank, one of the first neobanks in Hong Kong; the co-founder of e-wallet firm Papara; and QNBEYOND Ventures, the VC arm of QNB Group, the largest financial institution in the MENA region.
Debite will initially offer two main products in the UK – ‘Save & Spend Loans’ and a ‘Boosted Debite Card’.
Tackling one of the primary reasons why most start-ups fail, Debite’s Buy Now Pay Later model means customers benefit from smoothing the cost of expensive business payments, such as subscriptions, marketing and inventory, via a flexible and affordable repayment plan.
The platform has been built to serve the needs of early-stage companies that are currently underserved by traditional lenders.
Debite’s long-term ambition is to become a comprehensive banking and financial management solution for underserved early-stage businesses.
More than 100 companies registered for Debite’s pre-launch waiting list requesting access to over £1m of potential credit.
The company has ambitious hiring plans with over 20 new hires across sales, finance, risk, technology and marketing planned by the end of the year.
Debite’s co-founder and CEO is serial entrepreneur Tayga Baltacıoğlu, who successfully built and scaled the global cleaning technology venture, Cleanzy. It was in this role that he realised traditional lenders were failing start-ups through a lack of funding support.
Commenting on the launch, Baltacıoğlu, said: “We are beyond excited to be making our vision a reality with the launch of Debite.
“So many early-stage companies start out with amazing ambitions and the potential to do incredible things, but issues with managing the heavy burden of operational costs, and a lack of attractive funding options from traditional lenders to help smooth cashflow, means that growth is often stifled.
“We know this market is ripe for innovation and we have huge growth plans to meet this challenge. We cannot wait to fuel the success of the next generation of business champions.”
Co-founder and CFO Andres Korin spent 12 years at J.P. Morgan where he served as Vice President in a risk management role. Following this, he founded his consumer FinTech start-up and advised other early-stage companies across a range of sectors.
Debite’s third co-founder is Engin Attar who will serve as Head of Product and Growth. Attar previously worked as a management consultant at Bain & Co. advising clients in the aviation and retail sectors, overseeing projects with a total value of $1.7 billion. He also has experience building and scaling an international start-up, in addition to managing large product and growth teams.