B2B buy now pay later player Mondu raises $43 million

Berlin-based startup Mondu has announced a $43 million Series A round led by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures. 

The startup aims to bring buy now pay later (BNPL) to a B2B business model, meaning that companies can access similar flexible payment options to those Klarna offers its consumer customers.

The raise, which features participation from Cherry Ventures and Fintech Collective, will be used to scale its solution and expand into new European markets, beginning with Austria in June, according to an announcement on Monday.

Mondu helps solve several problems in B2B financing, Andrew McCormack, founding partner of Valar Ventures, argued in a press release to accompany the announcement. 

"The B2B payments market is immense, and its transition to digital has been accelerated over the past couple of years. The B2B e-commerce market is larger than B2C but is underserved by current offerings, and supply chain financing is a growing need, particularly for SMBs. Online transactions with financing options are limited," according to McCormack.

 This Series A follows only seven months after its $14 million seed round in October. The company was founded the previous month. 

The funding for Mondu follows recent difficulties for BNPL players in the consumer sector. Last week, Klarna fired 10% of its workforce citing a worsening outlook for the company in the current economic climate. 

The news followed a Bloomberg report that Klarna saw its borrowing costs climb to record levels as rising interest rates hit the company's debt and equity valuations.