Assignment Task: How do you write a board paper from an article? for example how would y a board paper from the article below look like?
Article:
Refund id, a fin tech start-up that provides instant refunds for online purchases, has closed a $12 million funding round, despite increasing concerns that the short-term finance sector's time in the sun has passed.
The funding round was led by the venture capital arm of global software giant Sales force, and includes $3 million of debt and equity raised in September 2021 led by After pay-backed venture capital fund Touch Ventures.
The round came at an undisclosed valuation. The company said it was significantly higher than last September.
Refund id co-founder and chief executive Brad Karney said it had signed up 80 retailers in its first 12 months of operation, including Adore Beauty, Culture Kings and Showpo.
The start-uptech sector has been laboring due to a global slowdown in tech investment, and Mr Karney said it was a very different challenge raising $9 million of equity this year compared with late 2021.
''It's like two different worlds,'' he said. ''There are a lot of nervous people out there.''
The nervousness in the buy now, pay later sector is understandable, as it looks increasingly like After pay pulled off a masterstroke selling to Square (now called Block) for $39 billion last year.
In the past year, Commonwealth Bank-backed Swedish BNPL giant Klarna's valuation has plummeted from $US45.6 billion ($67.5 billion) to just $US6.7 billion, while locally the formerly high-flying Zip announced it would terminate its much-hyped merger with ASX- listed rival Sezzle last week.
Meanwhile, solar financing BNPL Brighte has recently laid off staff to cut costs, Humm's plan to sell its BNPL business to Latitude Financial fell apart and the new Labor government has pledged to impose tighter regulation on the sector.
Refund id's brand of BNPL is based on promising online retailers it can help them make money by removing the friction from product returns.
Despite being in the short-term retail financing sector, Mr Karney rejected a direct comparison to other BNPL players, claiming Refund id's window for significant growth was only just opening, as it had created a ''world-first'' customer service solution.
''The early success with our retail partners, the value customers see in us, and the close of this funding round is indicative of the confidence seen in Refund id,'' he said.
Rather than waiting for a retailer and their bank to process an online return, Refund id guarantees shoppers a full refund and will transfer the money into consumers' bank accounts in less than 30 seconds, even before their returned items reach the merchant.
The retailer then repays Refund id along with a transaction fee of less than 5 per cent of the value of the refund.
The retailer only pays Refund id back if it is happy with the return, meaning the start-up carries the risk if the shopper does not return the item, the package gets lost or the product is damaged. ''The big thing for retailers is our product is completely no risk to them,'' Mr Karney said.
''So for example, if an item comes back ripped, they don't have to pay us back. ''We are taking on the risk for them which is what retailers love.''
Refund id is also gearing up to weather a potential slowdown in online shopping as the rising cost of living hits discretionary spending.
Mr Karney said offering instant refunds would give online stores an advantage in the battle for e-commerce sales.
''Customers going into a weekend will decide 'do I want to fill up a car of petrol for $150? Or do I want to buy a dress for a night out?','' he said.
''They might have to return it and be out of pocket $150 for a few weeks. If retailers can tell their customer, 'you never have to be out of pocket', it gives them an edge.''