Very interesting that Xero had an Invoice Lending Platform ….

Novatti - Reckon - IBOA …. Perhaps something here ?

Article from The Australian Business Review todays date …

CBA has aquired invoice lending platform service Waddle.

CBA acquires invoice lending platform Waddle from Xero

• By MIKAELA MULVENEY
• 7:04PM SEPTEMBER 6, 2023
• NO COMMENTS

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Commonwealth Bank plans to bolster its business services after snapping up invoice lending platform Waddle from NZ accounting software giant Xero.

CBA brought the service for an undisclosed price and said the deal would strengthen the bank’s digital lending capabilities.

CBA executive general manager for business lending Grant Cairns said acquiring Waddle will help the bank’s digital invoice financing service Stream Working Capital provide a better service to businesses struggling with cash flow.

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“We’ve seen very, very strong demand from our business customers for this type of solution and particularly those businesses that do experience those cashflow lumpiness and challenges in their business,” he said.

Waddle provides businesses with a line of credit of up to 85 per cent of the value of their outstanding invoices.

Xero paid $31m for the business August 2020 and within a year, Waddle had entered a partnership with CBA to develop the Stream Working Capital service.

In March of this year just weeks into Sukhinder Singh Cassidy’s promotion to Xero CEO, she announced the NZ firm planned to exit Waddle due to cost cutting measures. In its full year results in May Xero reported $NZ48.5m of impairments and other costs related to Waddle.

The brand now lives on with CBA through its venture-scaling subsidiary x15ventures.

Mr Cairns said the bank is excited to have acquired the service as it allows a business to raise funds from eligible receivables, rather than raising financing through traditional means.

“We can really now invest in the technology and the digital capability and really bring those capabilities in house to offer the solution to even more of our customers,” he added

X15ventures managing director Tony Norton-Smith said the business is focused on scaling up ventures through access to CBA’s customer base.

“We have a standalone technology and operating model, separate from the bank, which is much more fit for startups and scale up software companies, which is, really the reason why we acquired Waddle”.

Mr Norton-Smith also added that Waddle is a technology platform that can help CBA make lending decisions around invoice financing.

“[Waddle] was important to acquire because CBA has got really bold ambitions in that space, and for them to execute on those ambitions, we want to set Waddle up for success.

“We want to put the team inside a vehicle that is set up fit for purpose to be really friendly for startups, but has those connections pre built into CBA and we've got loads of other ventures in our portfolio that are already benefiting from that model,” he said.

CBA shares closed down 0.7 per cent or 71c at $101.51 on Wednesday, while Xero lost 1.6 per cent or $2.04 to finish at $122.23