Southeast Asia Lead B2B FinTech Funding | PYMNTS.com

With social distancing and an economic downturn the new reality for many markets around the world, venture capital is expected to slow significantly. Yet demand for contactless payments and digital, automated financial solutions means FinTech funding may not take as hard of a hit as other startup segments. “We haven’t seen a substantial pullback yet within the U.S. funding to startups,” said Crunchbase data expert Gene Teare in an interview with the publication, which also pointed to Stripe’s recent $600 million investment as an example of the resiliency of the FinTech startup ecosystem. This week, Southeast Asia is in the spotlight, with one U.S. bank technology firm securing $100 million to expand in the region. India’s KarbonCard , a FinTech that offers startups in India and Southeast Asia with corporate card solutions, secured $1 million in new funding from Orios Venture Partners, Whiteboard Capital, and others, according to YourStory reports . In France, Libeo , which offers invoice processing automation technologies for small businesses in need of accounts payable optimization, secured $4.32 million in new funding . Libeo said it will deploy the investment to expand its platform to more businesses free of charge as it helps firms navigate current market disruption. As it prepares for an initial public offering (IPO), Cross River Bank has announced a $100 million Series C investment led by V Capital Investments and Shefa Capital, the companies revealed in a press release. AvidXchange saw 52 investors participate in the investment round, which saw equity, options and security provided in exchange for the funding. In its official announcement of the equity funding, AvidXchange highlighted Lone Pine Capital, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, Pivot Investment Partners, Mastercard, Sixth Street Partners and Neuberger Berman as having facilitated the investments on behalf of their clients, and said it plans to deploy the funding to focus on strategic growth and product innovation.