Debitum Network Raises $18 Million in Fundraising ICO

Just a couple of days ago, we heard about Debitum Network’s plans to raise money via the release of an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), putting to work one of the latest developments in mobile payments to augment its operations and let it offer small business financing to more users. Now, Debitum dropped word our way about the results of that ICO, and the company will now be able to charge forward into the marketplace, buoyed by a hefty $18 million payday.

Following the successful IPO, the company then began work getting its new platform around, known as Abra 1.0. The platform is now ready at last report, and is poised for a September 3 launch. With the platform in place, the company will be able to offer up its line of services geared toward providing alternative funding sources to small businesses.

Debitum isn’t planning to compete with traditional banking, it notes, but rather serve as a way to pursue those clients that traditional banking simply won’t. Martins Liberts, Debitum’s co-founder, noted “We do not consider other fintech startups or traditional banks to be our competitors - we invite them to partner with us and hope to create a better future for SMEs together. All of us work towards the same goal - to allow entrepreneurs to be in charge of their companies and get the funds they need in a timely manner.”

With the small and medium-sized business (SMB) sector set to reach $90 billion by 2020 according to World Bank figures, the potential market is massive. What’s more, it’s actually accessibility to funding that limits the size of SMB growth, so Debitum may be exactly what the small business market really needs: a means for small businesses to reach their full potential by providing ready access to short-term capital.

A Dilbert strip once summed it up well, as a small businessman faced down the Pointy-Haired Boss, who noted that it was imperative that he be paid on time, or else he would go out of business. The small businessman then noted that, should that happen, the Pointy-Haired Boss would never need to pay…before realizing he’d effectively doomed his own business. With Debitum, the Pointy-Haired Bosses of the world may have lost their leverage thanks to easy-access short-term funding.