Zeller, a Fintech founded by Square alumni, has announced the successful close of a AUD 25M Series A fundraise, led by Lee Fixel’s Addition. Addition is a venture capital firm founded by Lee Fixel and brings a wealth of experience in the payments and Fintech space. This successful fundraise is another validation of the Zeller platform and of the bright future the company has ahead.
Zeller, a Fintech Founded by Square Alumni, Raises $25M AUD Series A Led by Lee Fixel’s Addition
Zeller is a New York-based startup that develops products to help companies manage supply chain operations. The company was founded in 2019 by CEO Jon Zeller, who previously worked as a VP of Technology at Walmart. Zeller has developed a platform that uses customer data to provide visibility into order fulfillment, inventory management, transportation optimization, and supply chain analytics.
The team at Zeller consists of engineers and business executives with extensive experience in the logistics and supply chain technology industry. The company is backed by leading venture capital firms including Addition, Battery Ventures and Lupa Systems, who recently led its $18 million Series A funding round at a reported valuation of $100 million. The funds will be used to continue developing Zeller’s industrial-grade platform and expanding its customer base worldwide.
The team at Zeller consists of engineers and business executives with extensive experience in the logistics and supply chain technology industry. The company is backed by leading venture capital firms including Addition, Battery Ventures and Lupa Systems
Overview of Addition
Addition is a venture capital firm founded by Lee Fixel in July 2019. The firm specializes in venture capital investments and provides growth-stage companies with the resources, advice and networks required to realize their potential. Addition targets global sector leaders, focusing on payment technology, enterprise software, gaming, digital health and robotics.
Addition’s primary focus is to support leading-edge businesses seeking capital to fund global growth initiatives with expertise in multiple segments of early stage and later stage venture investing. Led by Lee Fixel himself, Addition teams have extensive experience investing in technology companies of all sizes across industries including FinTechs, InsurTechs, AdTechs, Data & Analytics and AI/ML & Robotics leaders.
By partnering with successful entrepreneurs who understand what it takes to build great businesses; providing the resources they need when they need them most; and leveraging the network built over two decades of investing throughout the world — Addition puts early globals on the path towards growth.
The Investment
Zeller, a Fintech founded by Square alumni, has recently secured a AUD 25M Series A led by Lee Fixel’s Addition. Fixel is an experienced venture capitalist, having previously raised money for companies such as Uber and Airbnb. This investment in Zeller further demonstrates Fixel’s commitment to the fintech sector. With this new round of funding, Zeller is now well-positioned to accelerate their growth.
Details of the Series A Round
Addition, a venture capital firm founded by Lee Fixel, led the Series A round of The Investment. Other participants who contributed to the round include First Round Capital, Brilliance Ventures, and Greycroft. The Investment also announced that it has recently closed on debt financing from Stripe and Silicon Valley Bank.
The Investment team´s focus for the new funding is to accelerate their vision for building deep customer engagement–developing deeper relationships through technology, services and support. The company hopes to increase its customer base and strengthen its value proposition of providing comprehensive financial planning services.
The term sheet is structured as a one year deal with an eight percent interest rate on the drawn down amount. This agreement provides the funding needed to expand their offering beyond basic financial planning while safeguarding long-term growth potential by limiting dilution in ownership and control. Additionally, as part of this investment round, Addition will be taking an advisory role in helping strategize growth initiatives and highlighting best practices within the company’s internal teams – such as diversifying team’s skill sets or creating more efficient systems for managing processes across departments.
The Investment team´s focus for the new funding is to accelerate their vision for building deep customer engagement–developing deeper relationships through technology, services and support. The company hopes to increase its customer base and strengthen its value proposition of providing comprehensive financial planning services.
Investors In the Round
The round was led by Addition, a venture capital firm founded by Lee Fixel, with participation from previous investors Sequoia Capital and Spark Capital. Joining them in the round were new investors MPK Equity Partners, La Farge Ventures and Expansion Venture Capital. Adding these strategic investors gives The Investment access to global networks, industry-specific experience, and additional capital to help propel The Investment’s growth trajectory.
In conjunction with the investment round, Lee Fixel of Addition has also joined The Investment’s Board of Directors. He brings a wealth of experience in the tech industry. He has previously been an investor at Tiger Global Management and has invested in many prominent companies such as Uber, Flipkart and Slack.
The Investment will use the funds to expand into new markets both domestically and internationally, focusing their expansion efforts on Latin America first before tackling other markets such as Japan, South Korea and China. In addition to this international expansion move, they will focus on product innovation as well as further developing their data-driven customer acquisition platform which has enabled them to grow significantly over the past year. By investing in The Investment’s technology backbone and international expansions plans through this new funding round led by Addition, we believe that The Investment will be well placed for continued success for years to come.
Use of Funds
After the successful round of funding, Addition announced what some of the raised capital will be used for. These funds will help the company expand its teams across data science and engineering, and also facilitate investments in marketing and customer success. It is also expected that some fundraising funds will be directed towards upgrading other internal infrastructure and opening up new offices across Australia, Europe and Asia Pacific regions. Funding may also be directed towards customer acquisition efforts to identify further possibilities for scaling up operations.
Background on Lee Fixel
Lee Fixel is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist best known for his work as a partner and investor at the venture capital firm, Addition. Most recently, Addition led a AUD 25M Series A round in Zeller, a fintech founded by Square alumni. Before founding Addition, Fixel rose to fame as the head of Growth Equity at Tiger Global Management, where he made a name for himself by investing in Uber, Lyft and other high profile companies.
Let’s look at Lee Fixel’s career in the venture capital space.
The Investment will use the funds to expand into new markets both domestically and internationally, focusing their expansion efforts on Latin America first before tackling other markets such as Japan, South Korea and China.
Overview of Addition
Addition is a venture capital firm founded by Lee Fixel that provides capital to businesses at all stages. Founded in 2014, the company has gone on to make investments in over 70 different companies ranging from seed stage startups to late-stage private companies. Addition also provides an extensive list of services that includes venture capital, post-series A/B investing, later stage growth equity and direct secondary investments.
Lee Fixel is the founder and Managing Partner of Addition and has over 13 years of experience in building technology businesses from the ground up and managing digital platforms for success. In his successful career as an investor, he has invested in some of the most iconic technology companies, including digital pioneers like Airbnb, Slack, Pinterest and DropBox. Over his past 4 years with Addition, Lee Fixel has been focusing on early stage technology investments across consumer internet sectors such as eCommerce/retail, services marketplaces/2 Sides Platforms, gaming/social products media & entertainment as well as health & wellness space. Additionally he’s also leading investments into Artificial Intelligence (AI) startups while looking at opportunities within virtual reality (VR) sector.
Other Investments By Addition
Besides the investment in the company above, Addition, founded by Lee Fixel, has invested in many startups and growth-stage companies. These include: Openwells, an analytics platform for healthcare; HomeLight, a technology-powered real estate platform that helps home sellers find top performing agents; Tally, an automatic debt manager app; Flexport, a global freight forwarder and customs broker; GlossGenius, a salon cloud software; and TestPrepé , an online platform helping students prepare for entrance exams.
These investments demonstrate Addition’s commitment to supporting innovative entrepreneurs and businesses using cutting-edge technology. Addition leverages Lee Fixel’s extensive network of over ninety technology entrepreneurs spanning over twenty industries to ensure its portfolio companies are connected to actionable resources. By backing businesses with proven core value propositions and significant growth potential with capital and strategic guidance from leading industry professionals, Addition seeks to accelerate growth for each business in its portfolio.
Impact of the Investment
The AUD 25M Series A round recently raised by Zeller, a fintech founded by Square alumni, was led by Addition, a venture capital firm founded by Lee Fixel. This investment marks an important milestone for the company and could have a significant impact on the fintech industry.
Let’s explore the possible implications of this funding round.
Benefits to Zeller
One of the main benefits to Zeller stemming from its $700 million investment round is improved stability. This capital injection not only helps ensure that the company has sufficient financial resources to develop new products and services, but also gives it a competitive advantage when vying for customers or partnerships. This kind of cash infusion can be invaluable in helping a company navigate ever-volatile markets and provide cushioning in the event of an unexpected downturn.
The round will also help Zeller seize market opportunities. Access to larger amounts of capital allows the company to quickly capitalize on new trends before other competitors gain traction, without fearing an immediate impact on its balance sheet. Additionally, the influx in resources provides potential partners with assurance that Zeller is committed to realizing their shared plans for success and growth over the long term.
Finally, this substantial Investment strengthens Zeller’s position concerning venture capital firms, boosting its credibility and expanding its range of possible future strategic advisors or partners as needed. It demonstrates Zeller’s willingness and ability to attract big-name investors while smoothly maneuvering through different valuation stages and smooth execution cycles.
The impact of Addition’s investment on the fintech industry is anticipated be significant, potentially catalyzing long-term growth across multiple sectors while improving customer experiences.
Impact on the Fintech Industry
The investment from Addition, a venture capital firm founded by Lee Fixel, is set to have a major impact on the fintech industry. This injection of funding is expected to provide the necessary boost for companies in this space to scale up and create innovative products that can drive growth and adoption.
More businesses will likely be attracted to the ecosystem due to the opportunities generated by this round of funding. This could spur competition, leading to improved products and services at lower customer costs. It could also lead to further investment in research and development as companies look to capitalize on new ideas and technologies.
Furthermore, the increased financial support should allow firms to access talent, expand operations into new markets, or even pursue mergers and acquisitions with stronger cash flow positions. This support could also encourage venture capitalists interested in investing in fintech companies looking for additional capital. The impact of Addition’s investment on the fintech industry is anticipated be significant, potentially catalyzing long-term growth across multiple sectors while improving customer experiences.
Conclusion
This strategic funding round marks a powerful milestone for the young startup, and will help position the company for tremendous growth in the coming years. With a team of experienced investors, including Fixel’s Addition firm and others, now added to the fold, it remains to be seen what new heights this innovative business can achieve.
tags = Zeller, fintech, founded by Square alumni, raises $25M, Lee Fixel’s Addition, zeller 37.5m pos capital 300mshutechcrunch, payment and financial services startup, Tiger Global
