An InsurTech founded by former England Sevens rugby captain Tom Powell has secured £5 million investment.
London-based BondAval secured the backing in a seed round led by Octopus Ventures along with US-based fund Expa, existing investors Insurtech Gateway and TrueSight Ventures and several high-profile entrepreneurs.
They include Tom Blomfield (Monzo and GoCardless), Charlie Delingpole (ComplyAdvantage) and Matt Clifford (Entrepreneur First).
The company, which has offices in London and Austin, seeks to address the imbalance of working capital solutions in supply chains between large corporates and smaller businesses.
Its next-generation payment security – MicroBonds – is backed by a panel of A-rated insurers. By guaranteeing payments and supply contracts with investment-grade certainty, they seek to empower businesses of any size to realise their full potential.
BondAval is currently live in both the UK and the US, with North American operations being led by Charlie Evans, formerly of venture capital firm Hedosophia.
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The company plans to use the funds primarily for growth, hiring out larger teams in the UK, US and new markets as it expands, as well as continuing the build-out and scale of its proprietary platform and provisioning services.
“We envision a world where the size of a business is no longer an inhibitor to it achieving its ultimate goals,” said Powell. “We’re building the infrastructure to give businesses of any shape and size access to the most efficient forms of capital in real time.
“This funding round is yet another great point of validation for BondAval. The interest and support of all our investors – funds and angels alike – is rewarding in the fact that they all see the opportunity ahead of us.
“The capital raised will help us to continue hiring the best talent available. I’m proud of what this team has accomplished already and excited for the future.”
Sam Damoussi, COO and co-founder, added: “BondAval is bringing a completely novel outlook to a space that has been crying out for innovation.
“MicroBonds are a revolutionary security instrument with clear benefits for both suppliers and merchants.
“They are also highly flexible. We are constantly validating new and innovative use cases, and this fundraise will provide us with the capacity to further roll out our product offering.”
Tosin Agbabiaka, FinTech investor at Octopus Ventures, will join the BondAval board.
Dave Clarke, London-based partner at Expa added: “At Expa we’ve seen what founders can achieve with technology in industries where they have deep expertise and first-hand experience.
“We are excited about the opportunities associated with supply chains for BondAval in North America and around the world and look forward to working with the team to scale.”