Zazma Secures Funding from Sequoia Capital and Spark Capital

NEW YORK and RAANANA, Israel, Sept. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Zazma, an innovator in providing short term financing for small businesses, today announced $10 million financing of venture equity from Sequoia Capital and Spark Capital. The new round of capital will support the company's continued expansion.

Zazma was founded with a seed investment from Sequoia Capital in 2011 to grant small businesses additional credit and flexible repayment terms to pay their suppliers. Traditional financial institutions and suppliers are often unable or unwilling to grant sufficient trade credit for small businesses.  Zazma provides a payment solution that enables B2B suppliers to drive more sales by offering incremental trade credit to their small business customers.

"The financial markets are inefficient, and the traditional modes of financing are needlessly arduous and time consuming," said Benjy Feinberg, Co-Founder and CEO. "Internet and big data analytics are changing the financial world and Zazma is bringing this change to purchase financing by adding value to both small businesses and their suppliers through online, instantaneous approvals, and 100-percent payment guarantees at fair prices. We're thrilled to be joined by two exceptional VCs like Sequoia and Spark for this new round of funding that will enable us to expand our team and services and provide more small businesses with the capital that they need in order to thrive."

The number of certified Zazma suppliers has more than doubled in the last six months. Suppliers are saying that offering Zazma results in a 33-percent increase in purchases within the first three to six months.

"Small business are the growth driver of the economy and Zazma offers them a fair and reasonably priced funding solution," said Shmil Levy, Partner at Sequoia Capital.

"Zazma is solving a problem that directly impacts the core of any thriving economy – small businesses," said Spark Capital Co-Founder and General Partner Santo Politi. "With a strong team, unique business model, and innovative analytics, we chose to invest in Zazma because we're confident that their model will make significant changes to the way small businesses get up and running successfully."

About Zazma
Zazma is revolutionizing purchase financing for small businesses. Zazma partners directly with leading B2B suppliers to increase sales by providing underserved small business customers with more credit and longer repayment cycles. Zazma provides online access, instantaneous approvals, and 100% payment guarantees. Zazma is backed by leading venture capital firms, Sequoia Capital and Spark Capital. For more information visit www.Zazma.com.

About Sequoia Capital 
Sequoia Capital helps founders turn imaginative ideas into enduring companies. As the "Entrepreneurs Behind the Entrepreneurs," the Sequoia team has worked closely with legendary founders such as Steve Jobs of Apple, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner of Cisco, David Filo and Jerry Yang of Yahoo!, Max Levchin, Elon Musk and Peter Thiel of PayPal, Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google, Steve Chen and Chad Hurley of YouTube, and Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn. Sequoia is now helping the next generation of innovators build the lasting companies of tomorrow.

About Spark Capital
Spark Capital is a venture capital firm that partners with exceptional entrepreneurs seeking to build disruptive, world-changing companies. Founded in 2005, the firm manages approximately $1,500,000,000 across four funds. Headquartered in Boston, Spark maintains an office in New York and invests across the globe. The firm focuses on the following key categories: advertising & monetization, commerce & services, content & media, hardware & infrastructure, mobile and social. Spark Capital has backed notable companies including Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare, AdMeld, OMGPOP, Warby Parker and Wayfair. For more information, visit www.sparkcapital.com.

SOURCE Spark Capital