Cledara raises $3.4m seed round
Cledara, the leading all-in-one SaaS purchase and management platform, has raised $3.4m led by Nauta Capital, with participation from existing investors Anthemis.
With a mission to bring real time visibility and control to the chaos caused by SaaS subscriptions, Cledara enables companies to empower their teams to get the SaaS they need when they need it, in a fast, secure and scalable way. As a result, Cledara’s customers reduce software spend by up to 30%, while saving hours of manual admin work each month on things like chasing SaaS invoices, bookkeeping and complying with GDPR and outsourcing regulations for regulated fintech.
“Companies waste $20bn on duplicate, forgotten or unused SaaS purchases yearly. Our mission at Cledara is to help our companies cut through the chaos and start managing their software subscriptions in a scalable way. This round comes at a point in time when a successful transition to the cloud is critical for businesses and economies everywhere”, explains Cristina Vila, Cledara’s CEO and co-founder.
Based in London, with operations also in Barcelona, the company was founded by Cristina Vila in 2018 after experiencing first-hand the internal challenges that using SaaS can cause companies. Cristina was later joined by ex-Railsbank executive Brad van Leeuwen as co-founder and COO.
With more than 100 customers within tech and fintech, Cledara’s customers include well known brands including Florence.co.uk, Unmind.com, Butternut Box, and Railsbank.
Brad van Leeuwen, COO and co-founder said: “Having scaled companies before, I’ve seen first hand the friction that SaaS can cause across all parts of businesses, including finance and HR. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, businesses of all types have had to rapidly adjust to working in the cloud and are facing this challenge for the first time. We’re on a mission to support that transition.”
Jordi Vinas, general partner at Nauta Capital comments: “Cledara’s ability to ease companies’ SaaS management at a time where software-as-a-service is becoming an integral part for companies of all sizes is relevant now more than ever. Furthermore, Cledara’s management team has ample entrepreneurial and operational experience and we are thrilled to help them reach the next step.”
Farhan Lalji, principal at Anthemis, said: “Cledara’s speed of execution and growth in the twelve months since we led the pre-seed round has been phenomenal. Our partnership with BBVA was formed to help entrepreneurs like Cristina on their entrepreneurial journeys and we’re excited about supporting the team for the next stage of their journey.”
Cledara, powered by the Cledara Mastercard, is currently available in over 20 countries across Europe, including UK, France, Ireland, Germany and Spain, will use the new investment to accelerate their product growth and international expansion.
Cledara’s unique position has been recognised widely within the industry, having recently been named as one of FinTech50 hottest European fintech startups, and featured in the new Amazon Web Services (AWS) Activate Console Exclusive Offers programme which recognises high-growth startups’ needs to manage the SaaS used to run their operations.
