United Kingdom-based international bank Barclays and technology investment firm Bold Capital Partners have led a $5.5 million funding round for fintech firm Crowdz's blockchain-based global invoice exchange, according to a press release on May 28.

According to the report, the blockchain-based technology will purportedly make invoice processing more efficient by digitizing and automatizing what are traditionally manual processes. The technology also automates the process of finding financiers and sending them invoices.

CEO of Crowdz, Payson E. Johnston, emphasizes the importance that this speedier invoice processing has for small and midsize enterprises (SMEs):

"Today, small and midsize businesses often have to wait for a financially crushing 90 to 120 days or more to get paid. It's no wonder that more than half of them suffer cash-flow problems during any given year. However, with the Crowdz Invoice Exchange, these often struggling companies can get paid within a few days or less-at rates usually far less than available elsewhere in the market.”

In addition to receiving investment from Barclays and BOLD, the $5.5 million funding round was also financed by TFX Capital Partners, Techstars Ventures, and First Derivatives. The financial backing will purportedly go to product development, marketing, sales, and hiring for Crowdz.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Barclays joined a trial in April that tested using blockchain technology to streamline real estate transactions. The trial was conducted by Instant Property Network using the Corda blockchain platform developed by the blockchain-focused software consortium R3.