Why We Invested Again: Hokodo
Back when we first invested in 2018, the Hokodo project was embryonic. But it was pretty easy to gain conviction: 3 expert, passionate co-founders convinced of the need to disrupt the credit insurance market for the growing online SME market in Europe and beyond.
Three years later, Richard, Louis and Sami have refined their vision, grown the team and rolled out across the UK, France and Germany with more than 20 merchants and over 10,000 buyers transacting on the platform, counting Ankorstore and Mano Mano among their trusted B2B Buy Now Pay Later partners.
With e-commerce continuing to grow exponentially, B2B merchants often lack the tools and resources required to offer trade credit to their online customers. In reality, 40% of B2B trade takes place on credit terms, but the tools to do this are extremely outdated, having barely changed in two centuries. Additionally, business customers are denied access to deferred payment options in over 50% of cases.
Hokodo empowers B2B merchants to instantly offer their customers payment terms in real-time, even upon first purchase. Customers benefit from additional support through a frictionless “Buy Now Pay Later” checkout experience.
With Hokodo, B2B customers can now access a Klarna-like payment experience and a solution available and beneficial to all customers, regardless of their size. Hokodo’s digital trade credit as a service platform provides B2B merchants with a powerful set of solutions to instantly offer credit terms to their customers online. Hokodo’s homegrown underwriting engine also helps merchants determine which customers are eligible for payment terms, while simultaneously protecting them from the risks of non-payment. This allows merchants to scale with confidence, knowing that they will be paid no matter what.
In a few short years, this incredible team has built Europe’s leading B2B e-commerce solution that allows for instant credit decisions at high speed and simultaneously offers insurance. I’m incredibly proud to support the team as we continue the journey!
