SAP Ventures Leads $15 Million in Series C Funding Round for Business Service Pioneer, On Deck

Based in New York, On Deck is an industry leader in the business services industry by providing one of the first services which connects small businesses on main street to sources of capital, such as business lenders and merchant banks. The company announced on January 31, 2011 that it has just secured $15 million in a series C funding round which was led by SAP Ventures. Other investors who participated in this funding round include the company’s existing investors, PRE Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Contour Venture Partners, and others.

Founded in 2006, On Deck is one of the pioneers in linking small businesses with business lenders and has provided a tool to many small businesses all around the United States to business lenders who specifically cater to small businesses. The main idea was to make it easy for main street to connect with business lenders. This service allows small businesses to actually best choose the lenders who understand them the best.

Proceeds from this funding round will go to fuel the company’s amazing growth which it has experienced after experiencing over three times the growth in 2010, helping small businesses collectively generate over $100 million in revenue.

According to Mr. Mitch Jacobs, Founder and CEO of On Deck, On Deck started with the idea that the advent of technology and electronic data could have the potential to connect small businesses on Main Street nationwide with the needed sources of capital to function could explode in the following few years, which did happen indeed. Mr. Jacobs further added that four years after the company’s inception, the idea that electronic data and mobile technology linking small businesses to sources of capital would be big business has validated and realized itself, and this investment is living proof of that.

As part of the agreement of this funding round, Mr. David Hartwig, Managing Director of SAP Ventures will be joining the company’s board of directors. Mr. Hartwig also added that On Deck has a combination of both proven technology that delivers and the determination to resolve the crisis that most small businesses have on Main Street in receiving those vital business loans to keep working has fueled the speedy growth of the company. Mr. Hatwig further stated that the investment that SAP has placed into On Deck will help the company to continue to push forward with its quest to radically change the way small businesses can receive capital from business lenders.

The praises of the work that On Deck has done were also sung by PRE’s general partner, James D. Robinson III, who was an early investor in the company. Mr. Robinson stated that this particular funding round has a key milestone in On Deck’s life and that this funding round is an investment of a world class team of prominent venture capitalists who believe in the value of the service that On Deck provides and has brought insight to a new kind of global technology that helps businesses and lenders meet online and help the local economies in which the businesses are located.

SAP Ventures is an independent vc firm which primarily invests in innovative and disruptive companies in both the software and service industries on a global scale. SAP primarily focuses on companies in the above mentioned industries who are in the later stages of their life, such as growth and expansion stages.
Founded in 1996, SAP Ventures has had a proven track record of building high class companies that have gone global.