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## Campfire Raises $65 Million in Series B Funding Round **Campfire**, a developer of AI-native enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions for finance teams, announced on October 15, 2025, the successful completion of a **$65 million Series B funding round**. The round was co-led by **Accel** and **Ribbit**, with continued participation from **Foundation Capital** and **Y Combinator**, alongside several angel investors. This latest infusion of capital elevates Campfire's total funding to more than **$100 million**, a milestone achieved in an exceptionally rapid 12-week period following its $35 million Series A round. ## Rapid Growth and Market Adoption Drive Investment The substantial funding round is a testament to Campfire's accelerated market penetration and reported financial performance. The company has publicly stated a **10x year-to-date revenue growth**, indicating significant commercial traction across diverse customer segments, from high-growth startups to established enterprise businesses. This expansion includes multiple successful migrations of companies from traditional, legacy ERP platforms, including systems from **SAP** and **Oracle**. A key differentiator highlighted by Campfire is its proprietary **L.A.M. (Large Accounting Model)**, an AI model specifically trained on accounting data. This model is reported to achieve **95% accuracy** in automating workflows such as reconciliations and variance detection, aiming to materially lower operational friction for finance departments. ## Strategic Implications for the ERP Market Campfire's rapid fundraising and growth trajectory signal a notable shift within the **ERP market**, a sector historically dominated by entrenched players like **SAP** and **Oracle**. The emergence of AI-first solutions challenges the status quo, offering modern alternatives designed for the dynamic requirements of contemporary finance teams. The funding will enable Campfire to further accelerate product development and expand its market reach, posing a significant competitive threat to incumbent systems that, according to Campfire's CEO John Glasgow, "have barely evolved since the 1990s." > "Legacy ERPs are structured for a different era, and as a finance exec I felt that pain firsthand," said **John Glasgow, Founder & CEO at Campfire**. "We built Campfire to reimagine ERP for the AI age with workflows that think, learn, and move as fast as finance teams do today." The adoption of Campfire's platform by a publicly traded entity such as **LimaOne (NYSE: MFA)** further validates its commercial viability and ability to meet the stringent requirements of public market operations, including **SOX compliance**. **Patrick Journy, CFO of LimaOne**, noted, > "Since we operate in the public markets, we have to be thoughtful with every decision we make. Our team was impressed by the robust features, extensibility of the platform, and granularity of permissioning for a SOX environment. We've enjoyed building with the Campfire team to modernize the future of our accounting, together." ## Expert Perspectives and Future Outlook Investors view Campfire as addressing a substantial market opportunity. **John Locke, Partner at Accel**, remarked, > "Campfire is building a special company. We're excited to deepen our partnership with John Glasgow and the team, and to work with our friends at Ribbit. Campfire is addressing a massive opportunity in the market, and we look forward to doing the work together to build the ERP for the future." While **Oracle** has also shown strong performance in its cloud segment, particularly with its **Oracle Cloud Infrastructure** and **Fusion Cloud ERP**, demonstrating an **81.21% year-to-date return** reflecting confidence in its AI initiatives, Campfire represents a pure-play AI-native alternative. The company's momentum reflects a broader industry trend towards AI-driven automation in financial operations within the estimated **$3 trillion ERP market**. Moving forward, market participants will monitor Campfire's continued expansion of public-company deployments, the development of large-scale migration case studies, and the sustained performance of its L.A.M. in production environments over the coming 12 to 18 months. These indicators will be crucial for assessing the long-term impact of AI-native ERP solutions on the enterprise software landscape and their potential to reshape how finance operates globally.
## Mortgage REITs Outperform as Interest Rates Shift **Mortgage Real Estate Investment Trusts (mREITs)** have significantly outpaced **Business Development Companies (BDCs)** over the past year, marking a notable divergence in performance within the high-yield investment landscape. This trend is clearly observable through the **VanEck Mortgage REIT Income ETF (MORT)**, which has demonstrably outperformed both the **VanEck BDC Income ETF (BIZD)** and the **Putnam BDC Income ETF (PBDC)** during this period. The primary drivers behind this shift include a favorable environment created by declining short-term interest rates for mREITs and heightened investor concerns regarding BDC loan defaults, exacerbated by recent corporate bankruptcies. ## Divergent Performance Across High-Yield Sectors The outperformance of **MORT** against its BDC counterparts has been substantial across various timeframes within the last 12 months. This divergence can be attributed to the inherent sensitivities of each sector to interest rate fluctuations and credit market conditions. **Mortgage REITs** generally benefit from a gradual reduction in the **Federal Funds Rate**. Such declines can decrease their borrowing costs for repo financing, which is crucial for leveraged portfolios focusing on **agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS)**. Companies like **Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NLY)** and **AGNC Investment Corp. (AGNC)**, significant players in the agency MBS space, are particularly sensitive to these rate changes. As interest rates fall, the value of their existing lower-yielding MBS holdings tends to climb, contributing to book value appreciation and improved cash flow. This easing of pressure follows a challenging period for mREITs characterized by an inverted yield curve and rising long-term rates. Conversely, the **BDC market**, often viewed as a proxy for the $1.7 trillion private credit sector, has faced considerable headwinds. Rate cuts have squeezed payouts by reducing lending income from floating-rate loans and intensified competition from banks has further pressured lending spreads. This has led to a marked underperformance, with the **BDC index** lagging the **S&P 500** by a wide margin in 2025. Specific publicly traded BDCs have experienced significant declines, with **Blackstone Secured Lending Fund** down approximately 21%, **Blue Owl Capital Corp** off 19%, and **Ares Capital Corp** lower by roughly 12%. ## Impact of Rate Cuts and Credit Quality on BDCs The adverse impact on BDCs has prompted managers to trim dividend distributions. For example, the **Blackstone Private Credit Fund (BCRED)**, the industry’s largest BDC, cut its dividend by 9% last month—its first-ever reduction. Other firms, such as **Oaktree Strategic Credit Fund** and **Golub Capital Private Credit Fund**, have also reduced payouts by 10% and 15%, respectively. Analysts suggest that a 75-basis-point reduction in benchmark rates could translate into an 8–10% fall in total BDC dividends, given that dividend coverage ratios currently hover near 100%. Adding to credit quality concerns, the September 2025 bankruptcy of **First Brands Group**, a major automotive parts supplier, has exposed critical vulnerabilities within the private credit and BDC sectors. With estimated liabilities between $10 billion and $50 billion, this event triggered a cascade of losses for institutional investors. The firm’s opaque financing structures, including $4 billion in shadow debt, masked unsustainable leverage. BDCs with significant exposure to such distressed debt face potential margin calls or forced liquidations, contributing to systemic risk concerns within the financial system. ## Mortgage REITs Positioned for Improvement In contrast, the outlook for **mREITs** appears increasingly positive. The easing of the inverted yield curve, where short-term borrowing costs exceeded long-term asset yields, combined with falling interest rates, is creating a more favorable operating environment. **Annaly** and **AGNC Investment Corp.**, for instance, are showing positive momentum in their MBS values and anticipate reduced borrowing costs. Current valuations for major mREITs reflect this optimism, with **Annaly (NLY)** estimated at a price-to-book value of approximately 1.08x and **AGNC Investment Corp. (AGNC)** at 1.23x, according to recent data. These figures indicate book value increases, suggesting a potential for greater returns through multiple expansion. Industry experts corroborate this positive shift. **Steve DeLaney** of Citizens JMP notes: > "Within the mREIT industry, the largest positive impact will likely be seen in the commercial mREIT segment, where higher rates have increased the cost of carry for borrowers with floating-rate bridge loans and higher NOI capitalization rates have lowered real estate property valuations." **Jade Rahmani** of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods adds that the Commercial Real Estate (CRE) environment is **"set to improve in the fourth quarter and 2025"** due to impending rate cuts. This improvement is expected to be driven by increased transaction volumes and attractive returns on new equity and debt investments, along with better financing markets. ## Investment Considerations and Outlook The contrasting fortunes of mREITs and BDCs present nuanced investment considerations. While the sustained outperformance of mREITs could attract further capital, driving valuations higher, BDCs may face continued pressure if credit quality concerns persist and the interest rate environment remains challenging for their business model. The **Federal Reserve's** future interest rate decisions will remain a critical determinant for both sectors in the short to medium term. For investors seeking stability, particularly in a volatile market, **preferred shares** and **baby bonds** in both sectors offer attractive yields (typically 9-10%) with significantly less volatility than common shares. While some analysts suggest opportunities in carefully selected BDCs following their price declines, caution is advised when chasing high dividend yields in common shares of mREITs like **AGNC**, **ARMOUR Residential (ARR)**, or **Orchid Island Capital (ORC)**. Their strong earnings may be temporary, influenced by expiring interest rate swaps, which could lead to declining net interest spreads and reduced dividend coverage ratios. A discerning approach, focusing on underlying fundamentals and the sustainability of payouts, is essential.
The P/E ratio of MFA Financial Inc is 7.7743
Mr. Craig Knutson is the Chief Executive Officer of MFA Financial Inc, joining the firm since 2008.
The current price of MFA is $9.16, it has decreased 0.15% in the last trading day.
MFA Financial Inc belongs to Real Estate industry and the sector is Financials
MFA Financial Inc's current market cap is $941.0M
According to wall street analysts, 6 analysts have made analyst ratings for MFA Financial Inc, including 2 strong buy, 3 buy, 6 hold, 0 sell, and 2 strong sell