Berlin-based B2B buy now, pay later startup Mondu has won the backing of Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures as lead investor in its $43m Series A — a mere seven months after its seed round. 

What does Mondu do?

Mondu is part of a new wave of B2B buy now, pay later (BNPL) fintechs that provide loans to businesses rather than consumers — and is proving red hot among VCs even in the current climate. Just last week, there were two other funding announcements from fintechs in the sector — Tranch and Previse. 

B2B BNPL is designed as a short-term financing tool to help companies manage their cash flow. Mondu has built a payments product that gives online SME merchants and marketplaces flexible payment options at checkout. 

Who’s investing in Mondu?

• US-based Valar Ventures, PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel’s VC firm, led the round
• Existing VCs Cherry Ventures and FinTech Collective also participated…
• … along with angels from leadership at Klarna, Zalando and SumUp

What’s the B2B BNPL market like?

• There are nine B2B BNPLs in Europe right now, including new entrants Tranch and Previse
• Billie, also based in Berlin, is the most well-funded player, valued at $640m after raising a $100m Series C last October. B2C BNPL king Klarna invested in that round, and gave Billie a big boost by choosing it as its partner for the rollout of a B2B side to its business. 
• London-based Hokodo raised a $12.5m Mosaic Ventures-led Series A last summer to become the “Klarna for B2B”, through many of the same methods as Billie and Mondu. 
• When Sifted asks cofounder and co-CEO Malte Huffmann how Mondu differs from Billie and will manage to capture market share, he says the company believes B2B BNPL is “still a blue ocean opportunity” where there’s “enough space for multiple players to become very sizeable.” Mondu estimates that the B2B BNPL market will grow to $200bn in Europe and the US in the next few years.

What’s next for the company?

• Mondu plans to expand into more European countries later this year, beginning with  Austria this summer. 
• Huffmann says that Mondu will be hiring “aggressively” going forward but wouldn’t put a number on it. Its current team stands at 100. The company is remote-first, but its team will mainly be located in Germany. 

Sifted’s take

Don’t expect investor interest in B2B BNPL tail off anytime soon — but startups in the space will need to start differentiating to really stand out. Can Mondu demonstrate that it has something Billie doesn’t?

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Amy O’Brien is Sifted’s fintech reporter. She coauthors Sifted’s Fintech newsletter and tweets from @Amy_EOBrien.