Billboxx, a Nigerian billing-to-payment platform has raised $1.6m to tackle the critical cash flow challenges faced by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across Africa.
The investors included P2Vest, Norrsken Accelerator, Afrinovation Ventures, Kaleo Ventures, and 54 Collective (formerly known as Founders Factory Africa).
According to co-founder and chief executive of BillBoxx, Mr Justus Obaoye, “Cash flow difficulties are the leading cause of business failures in Africa, with delayed invoice payments being a major contributor. Billboxx is dedicated to solving these issues with an integrated platform that ensures consistent cash flow and financial resilience for businesses. This funding round enables us to expand our impact and empower more SMEs to thrive,”
Founded in 2023 with a commitment to building a more financially secure future for SMEs – the backbone of the African economy. Billboxx solves manual invoicing and deferred payments which often result in delayed payments, stifling many SMEs.
Billboxx’s integrated billing-to-payment platform streamlines billing processes, reduces inefficiencies from manual invoicing and mitigates the impact of deferred payments. The plaform provides automated billing and invoicing, secure payment facilitation, and tailored cash flow financing, Billboxx empowers businesses to achieve consistent cash flow and focus on growth.
Since launch, Billbox says it has facilitated over $4 million in invoice payments through its platform which boasts of integrations with local banks and top African payment gateways, multiple lending partners to power payment facilitation via bank transfers, cards, and financing options.
The firm aims to empower SMEs to pay and get paid on time, every time as three in five businesses across Nigeria have money tied up in unpaid and overdue invoices leading to cash flow challenges.
Billboxx aims to empower SMEs to thrive by providing a seamless platform that enables them to pay and get paid on time, every time. By doing this, the firm makes it easier for small businesses to efficiently manage their finances and cash flow and become the go-to platform that revolutionizes the SME billing cycle by simplifying and automating the billing to payments cycle, empowering small businesses.
“Delayed invoice payments pose a significant threat to SME growth and survival. Our platform not only streamlines the billing-to-payments workflows but also offers strategic embeddings to expedite payments. We aim to alleviate payment concerns and allow SMEs to focus on their core business,” Co-founder and chief technical officer, Mr Abdulazeez Ogunjobi, added.
Mr Obaoye and Mr Ogunjobi are not new in tech entrepreneurship in Nigeria. They previously co-founded Charistouch (Carido which was acquired by Cars45, and Fixit45, another platform acquired by Cars45.
Their entrepreneurship experience launching ventures and working at established businesses such as Schlumberger, Bolt, and OLX make their new venture attractive to investors.
“We’re delighted to back Justus and Abdulazeez as they continue to scale Billboxx,” said Bongani Sithole of 54 Collective. “We’re enthusiastic about the innovative work the Billboxx team is building. These 3x founders with successful exits under their belts are leveraging their leadership and business experience to tackle a massive pain point for SMEs across Africa.
“We invested in the company due to the large market size of the opportunity, impressive early traction gained from strong early partnerships with notable large corporates and startups, and the solid tech product the team has developed.”
