Propel invests in startup ChargeAfter, winner in BBVA Open Talent 2018
BBVA’s venture capital business Propel Venture Partners has led the funding round into one of the three finalists of the bank’s Open Talent competition, just a year after the business scooped a top award.
ChargeAfter, which won the 2018 BBVA Open Talent award in the Fintech for People category for its quick and easy point of sale financing solution, announced yesterday it has raised $8 Million in Series A Funding to expand its multi-lender program.
ChargeAfter provides customers with access to an integrated network of multiple lenders through a single interface. The platform allows consumers across the credit-rating spectrum to instantly “apply and buy” with point-of-sale financing at a participating Merchant.
Propel Venture Partners led the round, joined by PICO Venture Partners, the Plug andPlay accelerator and Synchrony.
It’s another strong achievement for the fast-growth business, after they were judged to be the very best consumer focussed fintech entry in the world´s biggest fintech competition - BBVA Open Talent - last year.
“ChargeAfter provides a single point for retailers to tap into multiple lending partners, for lenders to scale up, and for consumers to access fair and competitive credit options when they need it”, said ChargeAfter founder and CEO Meidad Sharon.
“Previously, it was too cumbersome for merchants to build and manage various lending partnerships, and with limited options, consumers all too often faced rejection during point-of-sale financing”.
Sharon said the Israeli-American company will use the funding to grow their US-based presence with the hiring of sales and marketing industry veterans, R&D developers, a second office located in Sunnyvale, California and to further expand the network of merchants and lenders.
“By leveraging a range of potential lenders, ChargeAfter has already proven successfulin increasing acceptance rates”, said Jay Reinemann, partner at Propel VenturePartners.
Meidad Sharon ChargeAfter CEO receiving last year Open Talent's award
“ChargeAfter aligns with our worldview of expanding financial access andbuilding new technology infrastructure. By creating this layer—a distribution system thatneither banks nor retailers could build on their own—ChargeAfter is doing for creditwhat the large card networks once did for transactions”.
Consumers using ChargeAfter experience a white-labeled, seamless process that takesminimal input and generates approved credit lines within seconds. On the backend,retailers use one platform to process and manage transactions from all lenders, with adashboard that filters charges according to channel, lender, and country.In practice what it means is that as shoppers are looking at products, they will see an option to secure personal financing at checkout. When they then choose this option ChargeAfter instantly matches the customer to the best credit offer for them, and the agreement can be approved there and then.
“Everyone wins with ChargeAfter. Shoppers get instant, personalized loans. Merchantsincrease sales and enjoy simplified transaction processing. Lenders reach newconsumers and reduce integration costs”, said Elie Wurtman, managing partner at PICOVenture Partners.
Merchants in ChargeAfter’s network have seen a 30% increase in sales and a 50%increase in average order size. They’ve also had 85% approval rates for shopperfinancing—compared to the industry average of 30-50%.