This is a story of 3 startups, starting in 3 different ecosystems, with similar solutions for Invoice Financing.
Here we will be looking into their funding rounds to learn about the differences between the startup ecosystems of Zurich, London, and San Francisco.
First of all:

What's Invoice Financing?

Scenario: You're a web developer, and you get paid 30 days after the invoice was sent. Until then, you need to pay your rent/business expenses, what do you do? A bank loan is the traditional solution (but it takes time). Invoice financing is a modern solution to this, providers give you the money in return of some interest, and you pay them back within several weeks/months.

The companies we're looking into

  • Advanon - A Zurich based startup. Total Funding: 13.92M USD (13.6M CHF)
  • MarketInvoice - A London based startup. Total Funding: 58.26M USD (45.8M GBP)
  • Fundbox - A San Francisco based startup. Total Funding: 107.5 USD
When looking at the numbers, this comparison symbolizes the stark difference between the ecosystems.

Advanon, being a Swiss startup, has only gone through 2 rounds in the last 4 years. Noticebly, having a pretty large Series A round of 13.5M CHF. This is a very solid indication of the Swiss tech market as a whole, funding rounds aren't as quick, but they are definitely enough for a lean burn rate (keeping in mind the local salary ranges) and steady growth.