Miami-based M&A financing platform Boopos announced today a $30 million debt and equity fundraise led by Fasanara, a British quantitative fintech investment company. Additional investors include Miami’s TheVentureCity as well as Zubi Capital, Plug and Play Tech Center, K Fund and FJ Labs. Boopos also has some high-profile angel investors such as Affirm’s Eduardo Vilar and Cabify founder Juan de Antonio. The startup reports that this funding will enable them to scale and further develop their platform for business owners.
Founded in late 2020, Boopos has made a name for itself by providing funding for buying or growing small businesses.
Boopos provides long-term business loans that can be paid back in 1 to 5 years. They require no personal guarantees and can reportedly provide funding in as fast as seven days. The process is completely automated, and the pre-qualification process takes less than 48 hours.
Revenue determines the amount of financing Boopos provides, requiring prospective businesses to have at least $100,000 in annualized revenues. Boopos lends up to four times a business’s annual earnings and will fund up to 80% of an acquisition. Through a pre-approval process, Boopos lets business brokers to pre-approve their listings, enabling sales to close in under 45 days.
While approximately $50 billion worth of small businesses are sold each year in the US, they rarely qualify for bank financing or government-backed funding programs. That makes it difficult for smaller buyers to compete with larger groups.
Boopos focuses on e-commerce and SaaS businesses. It’s difficult to understate the scale of these industries, with e-commerce alone amounting to almost $5 trillion worldwide in 2021 – a figure that is forecast to grow by 50% in the next four years. Equally, the number of search funds has exploded, leading one analyst to ask if we are in fact “entering the age of the search fund.”
“Our mission goes beyond backing business owners financially. We partner with them by analyzing target companies, betting on their acquisitions and giving them the confidence needed to make their deals happen,” Boopos’ founder and CEO, Juan Ignacio Garcia Braschi (pictured above), said in a statement. “We want to make sure that financing is not a blocker for talented and committed individuals.” Before founding Boopos, Garcia Braschi rose to the rank of CFO of Cabify, having spent almost 8 years at the company.
Being backed by Fasanara was a strategic decision, according to Boopos. The startup reports that they will leverage Fasanara’s fintech lending expertise to better serve Boopos’ clients. From Fasanara’s perspective, the feeling is mutual. Fasanara CEO Francesco Filia commented, “Boopos is in the intersection of all ongoing trends in the space: M&A as a core strategy, alternative lending, a new wave of e-commerce development, empowering small business owners.”
The Boopos team reports that they have 200 qualified buyers in their waiting list, alongside partnerships with specialized brokers like Empire Flippers and FE International. The startup has backed businesses including Telos Brands, a tech startup that acquires Amazon brands.
“Ability, deep business knowledge, flexibility, and transparency throughout the process make Boopos a long term partner for Telos,” said Darien Lee, Telos Brands’ co-founder & COO.
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