Here’s a new corporate card startup backed with $157 million in equity and debt chasing Brex, Ramp

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Photo credit: parkers

Parker, a startup that offers a corporate credit card for e-commerce businesses, emerged Thursday with $157 million in equity and debt financing from the stealth deal, much of which closed in 2022.

The company bills itself as “the first charge card for e-commerce” with increased limits that average 10 to 20 times higher than traditional business credit cards like CapitalOne, American Express and Brex.

Co-founders Yacine Sibous and Milan Ray were more into computers before falling into the world of e-commerce. They built internet-based businesses to help people build passive income when they encountered the problem of finances in e-commerce.

“We envisioned building better financial products for ecommerce founders with a mission to increase the number of financially independent people,” CEO Sibous told TechCrunch.

Sibous and Ray founded Parker in 2019 and were part of Y Combinator’s winter 2019 cohort. The company focuses on the middle market – companies with annual sales of $3 million to $100 million.

Parker’s “secret recipe” is his underwriting process, which assesses cash flow so e-commerce brands can have credit limits that make sense for their business; for example, up to $10 million in loans, Sibous said.

Additionally, the company offers payment terms, which Sibous says make sense in the context of e-commerce — think net terms with every transaction. For example, if you buy something on March 1st and then March 3rd, you can have 30 or 60 net days respectively and not pay that transaction until May 1st or May 3rd respectively.

“We’ve fundamentally changed the way credit card statements work, giving us the option to go with daily or weekly statements instead of monthly statements,” added Sibous. “It helps these brands tremendously with cash flow.”

Sibous believes Parker has a good opportunity to compete in the crowded credit card space, which also includes other venture-backed companies like Moss and Emburse. Sibous also pointed out that corporate card companies like Brex, American Express, and Ramp have a broad reach for startups, rather than focusing on a specific industry like Parker to focus on customer-specific needs.

“We tried using these cards for our own business, but the cards kept breaking,” added Sibous. “We found that nobody really solved the problem in a meaningful way. Having worked in fintech and e-commerce startups for so long, we knew all the vendors in the landscape pretty well and were very well positioned to actually tackle this problem.”

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Parker co-founders Yacine Sibous and Milan Ray. Photo credit: parkers

Parker’s revenue comes from exchange and transaction fees and has exceeded $300 million in transaction volume since its inception. It also has a run rate of nearly half a billion dollars, Sibous said. Clients include Amour Vert, Italic, SpikeBall, Canopy and Caraway.

The company began raising venture capital after graduating from Y Combinator and is now announcing all of its previously unannounced financings, most recently $31.1 million in Series A venture funding led by Valar Ventures, followed by a $5.9 million seed round. It also has $70 million in debt, made up of venture debt from Triple Point Capital and inventory debt from Jefferies. The Warehouse Debt Facility also includes an uncommitted option for a $50 million increase.

“Parker recognized an opportunity as a huge segment of e-commerce was underserved by merchants from traditional banks, startup cards and cash advance companies,” Valar Ventures’ Andrew McCormack said in a written statement. “The company has seen excellent product market fit among companies that need flexible financing terms and innovative underwriting to thrive and unlock growth.”

Sibous said Parker has maintained a solid runway throughout the global pandemic, which has allowed him not to need as much additional funding over the years. The funding will be used for product, engineering and go-to-market research and development as the company expands nationwide this year.

Parker is also working on profitability, and the company is working on scaling to access the cheaper cost of capital and sell other products, although there’s only a route to profitability in the cards business, Sibous said.

“We aim to become the de facto map for profitable e-commerce brands looking to scale,” added Sibous. “We want to create the best card experience in its class, solving the cash flow, management and profitability pain points. Once we achieve that goal, we will expand our product lines, including other financial products that these brands may need.”