Leverate Co-Founders’ New Startup Secures $18.6M in Funding

Even as the entry barriers into the crowded market for business-to-business payments are significant, new players are stepping in to tap into this lucrative segment. And one of those rivals is Israeli startup Unit, which has raised $18.6 million in additional funding, according to a recent report from TechCrunch.
The fresh investment comes nearly a year after Unit secured its initial seed funding of $3.6 million from a handful of fintech VCs in November 2019 and then switched to full building mode. The latest round drew investment from industry players such Better Tomorrow Ventures,  Aleph, Flourish Ventures, Operator Partners and TLV Partners, as well as 30 angels.
Unit was co-founded by Itai Damti and Doron Somech, the co-founders of B2B trading tech provider Leverate. They maintained their respective roles as they had been with Leverate, Damti as CEO while Somech serves as the company’s CTO.

Unit’s platform addresses the problem of fragmentation in the global payments market. The idea behind its full-stack approach is offering clients the ability to accept all payment methods through one application interface, a digital service it says eliminates the need for companies to develop or buy complicated payments infrastructures.
Businesses can simply plug in the Unit API to provide consumers with a local payment experience. This integrated payments network mainly caters to online marketplaces, fintech services, neo-banks, gig-economy platforms, and global retailers, notes Damti.
The San Francisco-based company indicated it plans to use the new funds to pursue multiple objectives, including international growth, hiring new staff, fueling expansion and the development of new products.
“Companies in the freelancer economy are in the great position to bundle more banking services into their platforms for freelancers. Now, it means they can help their freelancers track spending, as well as send payments to them. We have already seen a lot of pickup,” said Unit CEO.