British electronic invoicing startup Tradeshift announced last week it had secured $17 million in funding led by Russian venture funds Ru-Net and Kite Ventures, Tradeshift co-founder and CEO Christian Llang reported in the company’s blog. Existing Tradeshift investor British fund Notion Capital also took part in the round of funding to increase its stake in the company.
The recent investment brought the valuation of Tradeshift – a startup founded just two years ago – to $137 million, the CEO pointed out.
Tradeshift has developed an online business network to send, receive and manage electronic invoices for free. It also offers additional paid business services. Currently Tradeshift covers over 190 countries and claims over 60,000 registered users, including UK’s National Health Service and some functions within the Danish and French governments, the Financial Times reported.
The funds will be used to accelerate product development, expand the company into North America and further drive the adoption of platform by large enterprises. Tradeshift serves a rapidly developing and already quite competitive market. Billentis, a Swiss peer of Tradeshift, estimates the growth pace of the European electronic invoice market at 30% a year. In 2010, the volume of the electronic invoice market in Europe surpassed the €2 billion mark, the Billentis report reads.
A major Russian investment fund, Ru-Net has over $700 million under management globally. Among its portfolio companies are Russian search giant Yandex, which began trading on the NASDAQ earlier this year, systems integrator Systematica, Russian leading online retailer Ozon.ru, and Biglion, the most serious Groupon competitor in Russia. Ru-Net has just set up an American arm, named RTP Ventures, to invest in US tech companies.
Kite Ventures focuses on high tech and Internet investment mainly in Russia. The company had two successful exits recently, with its daily deal website Darberry.ru sold to Groupon in August, 2010, and network gaming site Kanobu acquired by Russian Internet company Rambler in July, 2011.
Sources: Tradeshift, Kommersant
