Alantra advises KEO World on a $20M growth equity financing round

Jun 2022

Strategic Advisory

Value $20 million

London – Alantra, the global investment banking firm, is pleased to announce that it has acted as sole strategic advisor to the senior management team of KEO World Inc. (“KEO”), the leading B2B Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) fintech, on the closing of a $20 million growth equity round led by Montreux Growth Partners with additional funding provided by Mayberry Investments and Avior alongside a debt facility from Hayfin Capital Management. With this investment, KEO World will fuel the growth of its Workeo small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) inventory financing program across the USA and LATAM.

“KEO World has developed a highly innovative, B2B-focused approach to the Buy Now, Pay Later industry, and we’re very excited to support the company as they expand into new territories and continue to innovate their BNPL platform,” states Dan Turner, Managing Director at Montreux Growth Partners. “KEO World’s mission to digitize BNPL practices and empower SMEs is enjoying strong market traction, and we are confident that this new capital will allow it to successfully expand its business into new markets across the Americas.”

KEO’s core Workeo B2B BNPL platform was developed to digitize the B2B payments ecosystem and to facilitate business growth around the world via an over-the-top approach.

Through Workeo, SMEs are issued a virtual KEO card and credit line, after a seamless digital approval process. Suppliers that want to offer KEO’s B2B BNPL inventory finance program to their customers can do so instantly, without the need for any systems integration.

“This growth equity investment will provide the company with the funding to expand the Workeo offering to more businesses and territories, and to enhance our infrastructure and proprietary BNPL platform to support faster growth and to meet our customers’ needs,” said Paolo Fidanza, Founder, and CEO, KEO World. “Our Workeo program fills a major gap in the working capital requirements for SMEs, and over the past year we have experienced incredible growth in transactions and SMEs using our all-digital credit solution for their inventory purchases.”

This round of funding comes on the heels of multiple milestones for KEO World, including:

• Building a Board of Directors: As a result of this financing round, KEO also strengthened its Board of Directors and Corporate Governance by appointing Dan Turner, Managing Director at Montreux Growth Partners as a Board member. Antonio Rossi, Senior Partner at Avior, Paul Gerard Mouttet, representing Mayberry Investments and Stefano Questa, Portfolio Manager from Hayfin Capital Management will serve as Board observers.

• Growth Working Capital Financing: Advised by Alantra,a seven-year debt facility of up to $500 million from Hayfin Capital Management to expand the purchasing power of thousands of SMEs via KEO’s Workeo program in Mexico.

• Industry-Leading Team: Hiring of a new Chief Corporate Development Officer (CCDO), Hernán Magariños, and a new Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) Hernan Lopez Varela.