Bento for Business, a provider of employee expense management solutions for small businesses, has closed a USD7 million Series A round of funding led by Comcast Ventures.
Existing investors Anthemis Group, Blumberg Capital and Lionbird join new investor Dan Henry, former CEO of NetSpend. As part of the financing, Dave Zilberman, Managing Director of Comcast Ventures, will join Bento’s board.
Bento for Business provides a management platform and smart employee corporate card that can be controlled remotely through proprietary software, giving business owners unprecedented control over where, when, and how much their employees can spend. Since its launch 13 months ago, Bento has grown 170% quarter over quarter, while garnering a high NPS score. The company will use this investment to add key management roles, strengthen customer support, develop new features, and fuel expansion into new verticals.
“Today’s small businesses demand more control and visibility over expenses, something legacy payment solutions fail to provide,” says Farhan Ahmad, CEO and founder of Bento. “Banks have long ignored the unique financial needs of small businesses. Bento’s vision is to bring the same simplicity, functionality, and ease of use we offer to other critical financial services that small businesses need.”
According to a 2014 ACFE fraud report, USD3.7 trillion are lost each year and one third of all SMB bankruptcies occur due to employee theft, fraud, and misuse. Small businesses suffer most due to the lack of sophisticated spend control tools used by most large enterprises.
“Bento is solving a significant unmet need in the market with its debit card and SaaS platform management platform for small and medium businesses,” says Dave Zilberman, Managing Director at Comcast Ventures. “I’m excited to join the board and support this superb team helping SMB owners have better visibility into their finances.”
