Suggestions
Zaid Rahman
General Partner at 305 Ventures
Highlights
I'm so excited to launch Flex to the world. An end-to-end finance platform for SMBs.
We have raised $100M in debt + $20M equity from amazing partners.
And we have a new brand: Flex.
25K+ SMBs have come to us wanting to accelerate their American Dream.
https://www.flex.one/
First, some context. We've been building Flex as Flexbase for a couple of years and have learned a lot of lessons.
My entire family is in the SMB space (my father runs a construction biz, and my sisters are architects), so we initially tinkered with construction as a starting place.
The problem I saw at my family's business is one that SMBs in all industries see: finance sucks.
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There are too many platforms in B2B finance. Banking, credit, expense management, invoicing, bill pay, collections, insurance, payroll, benefits, taxes, etc., are all 20+ different solutions. These products haven't changed in decades.
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SMBs aren't "venture-backed" startups or enterprises with many resources and professional CFOs. They often don't know how to manage finances or adopt 10-20 different products.
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And frankly, 90% of SMBs care about optimizing cashflow with working capital first and foremost. Most business lending focuses on long-term expansion loans where the business owner is tied to loans for years. But the real need is receiving short-term float for 30-90 days.
Enter Flex. 24 months in the making.
A single consolidated platform for the entire finance backoffice, designed for main street SMBs.
Today, we launched 3 of our products in a long roadmap of stuff.
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Flex Credit Card: Get Net-60 on all business expenses. We have businesses ranging in spend, some spending as low as $5K a month to get better float, and some mid-market businesses spending as high as $5M per month to optimize their cashflow.
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Flex Banking: Zero fees banking, with all the reliability and trust of a traditional banking experience, reimagined for the 21st century. Get up to 4% yield on your checking account and 1% cashback on debit card spend.
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Flex Treasury: $75M FDIC coverage through 400+ partner banks (via ADM) in a sweep network with high yield.
While most FinTechs have skewed towards following fancy trends of the day, we have decided to go institutional and timeless.
Winning customer trust is our north star. We do this with warmth and by empowering our customers' aspirations.
We are in this for the long run. We partner with enduring businesses that have survived recessions, inflation, and more, and so our brand must stand the test of time.
We have an extremely ambitious vision. Serving the types of owners that B2B FinTech has ignored: 1) SMBs are doing $795B in charge volume at banks (not FinTechs), 2) they employ 2/3rds of the US, and 3) they are the backbone of the American dream.
Flex is the American Dream.
Thank you to Saxon Baum Jeff Hilton Tom L. Jennifer Marcus Jon Soberg, CFA Eric Bahn Geoffrey Woo Michael Melikian Turner Novak Joey Levy and many many others!
