In its quest to automate and streamline debt processes for asset finance, Madrid-based fintech business Fence has made significant progress with the successful completion of its pre-seed financing round, raising €1.8 million. Semantic. vc is spearheading the investment round, with participation from renowned business angels such as Hardi Maybaum, Mark Ransford, Didier Valet, Luca Ascani, Baptiste Cota, Paula Blázquez, Eduardo Salvo, and Alexandra Piedrahita, as well as venture capital firms Crane Earth and Actyus. Founders of Glovo, Wallapop, and Cobee have also donated, along with other notable individuals, and as a result, an oversubscribed round has reached commitments of €4 million.
Excited to announce our pre-seed round!
Now back to building the future of debt: internet-native debt capital markets.
First, we are focusing on making debt efficient and programmable, which is critical before making it global.
If this vision excites you, we are hiring! DM us https://t.co/Ik5gtfWeiX
— Fence (@fence_finance) November 21, 2023
The increase in investor interest is encouraging for Fence’s next projects. Fence is ready to increase its investment in development and technology, with intentions to extend its operations to serve more banks, private debt funds, and fintech companies across Europe. By the year’s end, Fence plans to quadruple its Madrid-based staff in order to support its aggressive worldwide expansion aspirations.
Guillermo Bandeira, Juan Montero, and Ignacio Rosario founded Fence in 2023, and since then, it has quickly become recognized as a pioneer in the field of debt management. The platform quickly gained recognition as the preferred intermediary for a recent financing deal between Payflow and BBVA Spark, worth up to €20 million.
Fence CEO Juan Montero emphasized how the platform uses blockchain smart contracts to manage asset and capital transfers. According to Montero, “Our mission is to make it possible for companies to integrate debt into their technological stack, allowing them to automate its management, something essential in an increasingly digitalized world.”
Fence’s creative approach is realized in a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform created especially to automate asset finance debt management. Investors can access up-to-date debt information in real-time and make better decisions thanks to Fence’s API connectivity. Through the automation of payments, operations, and investor reporting, the platform also provides financed enterprises with considerable cost savings—up to an 80% reduction in operational expenditures.
Benoit Menardo, co-founder of Payflow, praised Fence’s influence on debt management while highlighting the true benefits of blockchain technology. Menardo said, “We can access debt on demand thanks to Fence, which has allowed us to save more than 25% in interest.” Furthermore, by automating the reconciliation process, we can meet investor information and payment schedule needs without growing our personnel, which results in up to 80% in operational cost reductions. Fence is well-positioned to make significant progress in transforming the debt operations landscape by utilizing cutting-edge blockchain technology, thanks to its success in the pre-seed funding round.
