Upper90 Capital

I’m so excited to announce our Series B!! Thanks @ryanlawler for breaking the news: axios.com/pro/fintech-de… A huge thank you to @beyroutey from @iaventures for leading the round and the rest of our investors for supporting us (@rohanm_ from @BrewerLaneVC , @keithhamlin from @thirdprimevc , @ckwitt3 from @upper__90, and others!) our team for building such a meaningful organization, our clients for working with us to set a new standard, and the consumers we engage with for teaching us and helping us become better. But, there’s so much left to build. We’re addressing an increasingly important problem in today’s economy. We’re hiring for many roles now, including a lot of engineers. boards.greenhouse.io/january?gh_src… If you know anyone, please reach out!

Equipment financing is as much a method of payment as it is a financing tool for equipment purchases. Yet the $1T in annual volume mostly comprises of tenured SMEs and publicly traded companies with long-held bank relationships. upper90capital.substack.com/p/the-power-of…

We're thrilled to be part of the CapitalOS journey. Congrats to Nir, Matan, and the rest of the team!

1/ Spent time exploring the intersection of vertical software & financial products. We're excited about businesses building operating systems: non-negotiable sets of data, standards, & workflows that fuel SMBs operations, tailored to a particular industry upper90capital.substack.com/p/vertical-ope…

FinTech can play a pivotal role in escalating vertical software businesses by offering an additional avenue for revenue beyond the conventional subscription-based models, especially considering the financial constraints of SMBs in comparison to larger enterprises. For instance, businesses like Toast and Shopify significantly amplify their revenue through fintech, primarily payments, and are extending their reach into facets like lending, invoice factoring, insurance, and payroll management. Vertical software platforms, once established as the primary operating system for SMBs, can further deepen customer relationships and monetization via consistent product innovations, with fintech being a strikingly impactful medium. Utilizing financial offerings not only expands revenue streams but also acts as catalysts for customer acquisition, retention, and offers expanded value propositions, fortifying the platform's integral role in businesses' operations. Examples such as Authentic, which allows vertical software companies to provide SMB insurance coverage, showcase the potential of embedding financial platforms in vertical software. This integration provides an assortment of opportunities like gauging customer intent for financial products, enabling pre-approvals based on existing platform data, reducing customer acquisition costs, diversifying revenue, and enhancing customer retention by creating a comprehensive one-stop solution. I highly recommend reading the complete source article by @upper__90 for more info on this topic: upper90.medium.com/vertical-opera… Find this helpful? [ 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 ] Anything to add about this subject? [ 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 ] Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ ❤️ ] #fintech #embeddedfinance #embeddedbanking #embeddedfintech #financialtechnology #fintechindustry #fintechstartups #insurtech #paytech #banktech

Excited to share the first edition of our new series called “Raise Less, Own More” with Jason Guss, Co-founder and CEO of Octane. linkedin.com/pulse/jason-gu…

"If you look at a public company, it's something like 60/40 debt to equity cap structure. If you look at the Bessemer ‘Cloud 100 index’, which is a good representation of the top VC-backed companies, it's 98% equity / 2% debt" Thanks for hosting us @MiguelArmaza!

1/ Increasingly intrigued by insurance premium finance market, a pocket of specialty finance owned by a small # of regional banks and specialty finance co's. Feels like a lot of opportunity for product, payments, and distribution innovation.

Spending more time on insurance premium finance. Here we’ll dig deeper into what premium finance is, how the market looks like today, growth opportunities, and where we’re excited about in commercial P&C premium finance upper90capital.substack.com/p/why-were-exc…

Debt for startups is ridiculously confusing. You're stuck with terms like "delayed draw term loan" and "AQR covenants". However, tons of startups are searching for non-dilutive ways to extend their runway. Am I a debt expert? No shot. So we teamed up with @upper__90 for a webinar on Wednesday at 2 pm EST. Link below to join 100 other founders / CFOs👇

Looking forward to co-hosting w/ Meow next week!

As banks tighten risk and growth equity takes a back seat, there will likely be a continued liquidity crunch for startups. Read more from our CEO Billy Libby in his latest piece for Forbes forbes.com/sites/forbesfi…

Diving into what we mean by alignment at Upper90 and how we partner with early-stage companies. If you're an early stage founder building a fintech, supply chain, or software/services rollup business with a capital intensive element, reach out! upper90capital.substack.com/p/why-alignmen…

When we asked ourselves the most common questions we hear in first meetings with companies, one in particular stands out: “is this like venture debt?” upper90capital.substack.com/p/asset-based-…

Really enjoyed speaking with @mpd on our hybrid investment strategy, distinguishing asset-based lending from venture debt, and the evolution of financing early-stage startups interplay.vc/podcast/unlock…

This week's pod is a deep dive into venture debt w/ @Billy__Libby of @upper__90. Discover a new financing approach for startups that challenges equity focus and learn valuable insights on asset-based lending. IMHO a must-listen for founders/entrepreneurs. ipl.vc/p89tm

Answering a few questions we get asked all the time at Upper90 upper90capital.substack.com/p/questions-we…

In the latest issue of "Five Things You Need" from @AuthorityMgzine, our Founder and CEO Billy Libby shares what you need to know if you want to build, scale and prepare your business for a lucrative exit. medium.com/authority-maga…

"You're going to see a reckoning." Our CEO Billy Libby spoke with Bloomberg about how not just equity, but venture debt was propping up companies that shouldn't have lived as long as they did. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Only two weeks out from @Fintechnexus ! Looking forward to a great conversation with @LCSVoiles, CEO of Pipe. #fintechnexus