Sequoia Capital enters the expense management market

Yokoy, a Zurich-based expense management company, raised $80 million in Series B funding led by Sequoia Capital, the firm’s first foray into the space.

Why it matters: For an unsexy part of corporate life, expense management has had a strong allure for venture backers.

Context: Brex, currently the most highly valued company in this subset of fintech, is backed by investors like Tiger Global, Kleiner Perkins, and Ribbit.

• Ramp, meanwhile, is backed by Founder's Fund, Coatue and Thrive. Jeeves, also in the space, has backers that include Andreessen Horowitz. Expensify went public in November 2021.
• Participating in the Yokoy round were Speedinvest, Visionaries Club and Zinal Growth, Balderton Capital, Six FinTech Ventures, Left Lane and Swisscom Ventures.

Details: Yokoy differentiates itself from its American peers by focusing on the largest of the companies in Europe — businesses that typically have over 10,000 employees.

• Since its founding in 2019, the business has completed over $100 million in payment volume. "Once a company outgrows Brex, we would really want them to step into Yokoy," says CEO Philippe Sahli.
• He adds thats the company quadrupled its revenue last year, and is on track to do so again this year.
• The deal values Yokoy at about $500 million, CNBC first reported, citing a source.

Bottom line: While the company may seek to expand further next year, for now "Europe is still the main focus," Sahli says.