Gynger, a platform that lends capital to companies for technology purchases, has raised $20 million in a Series A round led by PayPal Ventures.
The financing brings the New York-based startup’s total venture capital raised to $31.7 million and included participation from Gradient Ventures (Google’s AI-focused venture fund), Velvet Sea Ventures, BAG Ventures, and Deciens Capital.
In addition to the equity raise, Gynger has secured a debt facility from CIM (Community Investment Management) with an agreement to fund up to $100 million.
Gynger was incubated in June 2021 out of m]x[v Capital, a New York City-based early-stage venture fund founded by Mark Ghermezian. Ghermezian also previously founded Braze, a cloud-based customer engagement platform for multichannel marketing. He saw how difficult it was to sell software and — on the flip side — how difficult it was for buyers to purchase the software.
Gynger works with both buyers and sellers of technology. It claims to help companies “finance, pay and manage” all of the expenses associated with buying technology, including software, hardware, cloud, and infrastructure. It does this by providing businesses with access to unsecured lines of credit, which Ghermezian says gives them the ability to extend their runway and preserve cash.
Gynger says it uses advanced artificial intelligence and data analytics to underwrite and approve credit for customers. It automatically detects technology spend to recommend financing opportunities to best fit the needs of both buyers and sellers, according to Ghermezian.
The company claims that its application process is less than 10 minutes and that companies get credit decisions the next day, with immediate access to funds once approved with different options of payment terms. Gynger pays its customers’ vendors on their behalf, and the customers pay it back later. Think of it as a buy now, pay later service for companies purchasing technology.