Fidelity-backed payments solutions co MineralTree raises $11.1M led by First Data

Cloud-based payments solutions provider MineralTree Inc.has raised $11.1 million (about Rs 69 crore) in a Series B round of funding from payment technology solutions major First Data besides existing investors Fidelity Growth Partners and .406 Ventures, it said on Wednesday.

The Boston-based company will use the funds to accelerate product development and further expand its direct sales organisation targeting growing companies and financial accounting outsourcing (FAO) organisations.

As per the deal, executive vice president and head of financial services at First Data, Andrew Gelb, will be joining the board of of the company. Both the parties have entered into a strategic partnership that will accelerates MineralTree's ability to modernise accounts payable and streamline automated payments.

"As a leader in payments and financial services technology – with unprecedented market insight and a network of relationships with banks and financial services organizations – First Data brings much more than capital to our relationship," said BC Krishna, MineralTree's president and CEO.

This round brings the company's total funding to $22.7 million. In July 2012, it had raised $6.3 million (Rs 35.76 crore) from Fidelity Growth Partner India. Prior to that, it had raised $1.5 million in seed funding from .406 Ventures.

Fidelity Growth Partners India chief Raj Dugar sits on MineralTree board.

The company was started by Krishna, who has earlier started companies like content management solutions firm FutureTense Inc, which was also backed by Fidelity Ventures and acquired by Open Market. Krishna had also started fraud detection solutions developer Memento, backed by Bain Capital & .406 Ventures. It was acquired by FIS.

MineralTree captures invoices as they arrive, routes them for approval through existing workflows and directly executes payments. It is a web-based solution that integrates in real time with accounting/ERP and banking systems.

"The solution we've built is a far more intuitive, affordable and secure option than other products in the market or the manual processes that many companies are still using for accounts payable. We can deliver tremendous efficiencies to the antiquated status quo in AP," said Krishna.

Fidelity Ventures has previously backed companies like online money transfer player Xoom.com, which has been a successful at expanding globally in the area of remittances.