Moncton-based SnapAP, which makes payment software, has closed a “significant portion” of a funding round that it hopes will reach US$2 million (C$2.6 million). The money has come largely from angels in Israel.

The company, whose full name is Snap Accounts Payable Corporation, has spent most of 2020 setting the stage for rapid sales growth next year by ensuring its solution has the functionality to  scale rapidly and meet client demands.

In an interview, Co-Founder and COO Sionne Roberts wouldn’t be pinned down on how much money the company has raised so far. However, he said it is enough to execute on its strategy and generate strong growth in 2021.  

“The theme for 2020 was ‘ready to grow’ and the theme for 2021 is ‘actual growth,’” said Roberts. “We don’t see any inhibitors.”

Founded in 2017, SnapAP has developed a solution that automates the accounts payable process – the process a company uses to pay the money it owes to customers and lenders. The software also helps companies reduce costs and improve efficiency in other payment processes, such as invoicing.

The product works off the enterprise resource planning, or ERP, systems of larger companies, and has been integrated with Sage, the leading ERP in the mid-market. Then in 2020, SnapAP was contacted by Oracle, which is active in the upper-mid-market to enterprise segment, so SnapAP can now be offered to Oracle clients.

SnapAP Co-Founder and CEO Jean-Daniel Drapeau, Roberts and their team wanted to make sure they met no resistance in their scaling once they really began to grow in 2021. They took such steps last year as reducing the time it takes to onboard the SnapAP app. And they set out to raise capital.

The foundation of the current round came last spring, when SnapAP received a $50,000 investment from the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation and Innovacorp after being one of the leading companies in Propel’s Incite Phase II accelerator.

Drapeau and Roberts then worked with Alicia Roisman Ismach, the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at New Brunswick startup hub Venn Innovation, who had previously worked in the Israeli startup community. She tapped her network to introduce SnapAP to Israeli angels. All the meetings, pitches and negotiations had to take place remotely due to COVID-19.  

“At the outset of learning what the SnapAP team had built, the opportunities that they had in the fintech space were clear,” said Ismach in a statement. “The recognition of the strategies for growth that could be implemented in SnapAP and the clear value that they bring to their clients allowed for their introduction to global investors who are very familiar with this vertical.”

Roberts said the company has kept its team lean at six members, but the headcount could reach 15 by the end of next year, with a strong emphasis on business development and sales.

Said Drapeau: “This funding milestone is exciting and worth celebrating but at the same time it is only another step within my overall long-term vision of SnapAP becoming a leading player for a global market that is literally valued in the trillions of dollars for annual spending.”