Looks like all the WeWork drama isn’t slowing down SoftBank Vision Fund’s pace.
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Greensill Capital, which provides working capital finance for companies, announced today it has raised $655 million from the SoftBank Vision Fund.
The investment comes just five months after an initial $800 million infusion from the Vision Fund, and brings its total capital raised since inception to $1.7 billion, according to Crunchbase data. All but $250 million of that (a private equity round from General Atlantic) came from the SoftBank Vision Fund.
An unnamed source told Reuters that the new investment “was in the form of convertible loan notes, which would be switched into primary and secondary shares over time.”
At the time of its May funding, Bloomberg reported that Greensill was valued at $3.5 billion. That round was intended to help the company “accelerate its expansion into Brazil and enter other markets like China and India,” according to Reuters.
In a statement, Greensill said it will use the new capital to “accelerate its global expansion and step up the development of new products.” The London-based company, which says its mission is to democratize capital by providing “supply chain finance,” also plans to use the money toward strategic acquisitions.
On that note, as part of the new funding, Greensill also announced today that it has acquired FreeUp, a London-based company founded by Reuben Saxon, Marta Krupinska and David Townsend. FreeUp is developing technology aimed at helping workers receive early payment for earned, but unpaid, wages.
Greensill founder and CEO Lex Greensill said that by combining FreeUp’s IP with his company’s technology, he sees “the potential to revolutionise the way workers are paid around the world.”
Currently, Greensill ranks among the largest non-bank bond issuers in Europe. In 2019 alone, it claims to have provided more than $150 billion of financing to more than eight million suppliers and customers across more than 165 countries.
Illustration: Li-Anne Dias
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