Exclusive: Wayflyer collects $50M to fuel expansion

Exclusive: Wayflyer collects $50M to fuel expansion

Irish fintech Wayflyer secured a $50 million debt facility from Trinity Capital, Wayflyer CEO Aidan Corbett tells Axios Pro exclusively.

What's next: The small business lender is growing beyond consumer brand e-commerce and looking to branch into non-lending products.

What we're watching: The fintech is open to adding more tech through M&A if the opportunity arises.

  • "Those types of acquisitions we're very excited about. There are a lot of really talented teams that have built nice products, but for whatever reason haven't gotten to that kind of Series A threshold and we'd love to incorporate more of those teams," Corbett says.

    • Zoom in: Wayflyer offers alternative financing for small businesses in the U.S., the U.K., Europe and Australia.

  • It wants to expand more into the retail software and services market, targeting businesses like restaurants or salons that handle multiple transactions a day, Corbett says.
  • The alternative lender, which has a hub in Charlotte, North Carolina, is also looking to grow within the U.S. and begin offering its small business clients products like foreign exchange and checking accounts.

    • What they're saying: "What this facility allows us to do is expand our footprint out beyond consumer brands into new verticals, and really we're expanding into an enormous market that the banks have ultimately stepped back from," Corbett says.

    Follow the money: Wayflyer announced a $1.5 billion forward flow arrangement with Fortress Investment Group in July, which lifted its lending pool to $4.5 billion.

  • The company secured a $250 million two-year credit facility in February through Apollo-backed Atlas SP Partners.
  • It also bought e-commerce analytics platform Conjura this summer, bringing in-house an AI tool that allows users to understand their financial data.

    • Flashback: Wayflyer raised a $150 million Series B at a $1.6 billion valuation in 2022. DST Global and QED Investors led the round, joined by Prosus, Madrone, JPMorgan, LeftLane Capital and Checkout.com founder Guillaume Pousaz.