List of articles > APRON, a rapidly growing B2B payment platform in the UK
「APRON” is a startup that provides an innovative payment platform for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). In the second half of 2021 “RevolutFounded by Bogdan Uzbekov, former product leader at “, the company aims to enable SMB owners and accountants to receive, classify, approve, pay, and reconcile invoices in seconds.
In September 2024, about three years after its establishment, the company raised more than 40 billion yen in Japanese yen.
This time, we will talk about the business content and future prospects of “ARRON”.tech meI will consider this based on the article.
“APRON” revolutionizes the payment process for small and medium-sized businesses
APRON features a “Town Square” approach that allows suppliers, buyers and accountants to mutually manage payments smoothly and seamlessly. This approach allows SMBs to significantly reduce the time and effort they spend arranging and tracking payments, allowing them to focus on their core business activities.
Quote:APRON
Additionally, through its proprietary payment platform, APRON allows customers to make payments to anyone around the world, including employees and suppliers. moreover,”Xero“or”QuickbooksIt also easily integrates with existing accounting tools such as “, allowing for instant payment reconciliation.
Accelerate growth with $30M Series B funding
“APRON” raised $30 million (approximately 48.6 billion yen) in Series B funding in September 2024. This investment round isCheckout.com”, a technology fund specializing in growth stages backed by the founder of “Zinal Growth” was led. In addition, existing investors’Index Ventures“and”Bessemer Venture Partners” and even the inventor of the iPod, “Build CollectiveTony Fadell, principal at “, also participates as an investor.
This funding reflects APRON’s rapid growth. Since securing a $15 million (approximately 24.3 billion yen) Series A in September 2023, the number of SMB customers served by APRON has increased more than 20 times. Today, thousands of invoices and millions of dollars in payments are made on APRON’s platform every day.
“We believe APRON solves a key pain point that SMB owners are familiar with, making managing payments an efficient and enjoyable experience,” said Luca Schmid, Managing Partner at Zinal Growth. “I’m doing it,” he commented.
The future of B2B payments and the outlook for “APRON”
The success of APRON signals a major transformation in the B2B payments field. Traditionally, the payment process for small and medium-sized businesses has been inefficient and time-consuming. In fact, according to Tech EU, the average SMB owner spends up to 20% of their time on invoicing, paying, managing, and related administrative tasks.
Platforms like APRON have the potential to eliminate these inefficiencies and significantly improve cash flow management for small and medium-sized businesses. The importance of this is clear, especially considering the fact that more than 4 out of 5 SMEs in the UK fail due to cash flow problems (from “tech eu”).
With this funding, APRON plans to expand its engineering and product teams to achieve key milestones on its roadmap to 2025. Plans include launching new products for large suppliers and bringing to market affordable and easy-to-use expense management solutions tailored for SMBs.
On the other hand, when considering expansion into the Japanese market, several issues are expected. For example, the penetration rate of electronic payments among small and medium-sized enterprises in Japan is lower than in Europe and the United States, and traditional bank transfer transactions remain the norm. Additionally, although there are a wealth of accounting-related cloud services available, many companies have been slow to digitize their accounting systems due to concerns about migration costs or the aging population. Implementing a platform like APRON can take time.
On the other hand, the Japanese government is promoting digitalization.Small and Medium Enterprise AgencyIT implementation subsidies for small and medium-sized enterprises promoted by Japan are also becoming more and more substantial. Against this background, we believe that there will be more opportunities for B2B payment platforms like APRON to enter the Japanese market. There is great potential to contribute to improving the operational efficiency and cash flow of Japanese small and medium-sized enterprises.
Reference article:APRON raises $30M Series B for SMB payments tech
*This article contains sentences, images, etc. generated by AI.
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Posted by: Aoi Kondo
Currently enrolled in the Department of Economics and Business Administration, Faculty of Economics, Kyoto University (-2025.3). In the seminar, he is engaged in research and research on business strategies for startups. From September 2023, he was dispatched to Koç University as an exchange student based on the Kyoto University Interuniversity Student Exchange Agreement and stayed in Istanbul, Turkey for half a year. She started an internship at RouteX in 2022, and has been in charge of a wide range of projects, from industry research to supporting overseas startups expanding into Japan. His hobby is riding his favorite motorcycle (S1000RR ’21), and he is also a member of another university’s motorcycle club.
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