In a startling revelation, reports unveil that small business owners in the UK spend an average of five grueling hours each week navigating the labyrinthine world of invoice payments. This struggle contributes to a jaw-dropping annual transaction volume of £1.5 trillion in the UK alone.
Enter Apron, a London-based fintech trailblazer renowned for its innovative platform that dramatically slashes invoice processing times for small businesses. The company recently clinched a staggering $15 million in Series A funding, a milestone led by Index Ventures, a heavyweight supporter of startups like Causaly, Worldover, and Sylvera. Notably, Bessemer Venture Partners and Visionaries Club also joined forces in this funding frenzy.
Empowered by this fresh infusion of capital, Apron is poised to expand its dynamic team of 20 professionals, boasting talent from industry titans like Meta, Revolut, Square, and Yandex. This funding coup follows closely on the heels of Apron's recent fintech unveilings: Apron Hub and Apron Snap accounts.
Apron's allure lies in its swift three-minute signup process, granting users seamless control over their invoices. Invoices glide effortlessly from accounting software to Apron or can be swiftly forwarded via email. Impressively, Apron facilitates simultaneous payments to multiple suppliers across 150+ countries and in 30+ currencies, ensuring equitable exchange rates sans hidden fees. The platform streamlines the approval process by presenting payments and authorizations side by side, simplifying the arduous approval and modification procedures.
Founded in 2021 by Bogdan Uzbekov, a product leader from Revolut hailing from Ukraine, Apron champions a unique approach aimed at revolutionizing payment flows across user networks. Their product design revolves around user needs, rather than supplanting existing accounting software, it seamlessly integrates into established workflows, forging connections with prevalent business and accounting software. This integration culminates in a seismic reduction of time-consuming tasks, transforming hours into mere minutes.
Bogdan Uzbekov, founder and CEO of Apron, emphatically states, "Apron puts itself in the position of all these users – accountants, business owners, and suppliers – and instead of trying to solve business payments from just one perspective, we create a town square where they can all come together to move money as smoothly as possible. We want to flip payments from being a blocker to being a booster: something that can be done quickly, securely, and even give you a sense of joy and satisfaction."
Jan Hammer, the Index partner who joined the Apron board, affirms, "Apron have not just built a technically exceptional back-end payments platform: combined with their unique focus on the product experience for end-users, they have the potential to redefine how people pay invoices everywhere."
As testimonials like that of Dani Reid and Agnes Potter, founders of Potter & Reid, a neighborhood cafe in Spitalfields, London, roll in, it becomes abundantly clear that Apron is breathing life into small businesses by saving precious time and money. In the hustle and bustle of entrepreneurship, Apron emerges as a lifeline, allowing business owners to concentrate on the bigger picture of growth and success.
