The B2B landscape is on the cusp of the next era of payments innovation.
As PYMNTS readers already know, this new and exciting era is driven by continued digital transformation of legacy processes and electronic streamlining of traditional workflow issues.
For seize the concrete opportunities that exist for B2B companies to accelerate sustainable growth and establish market differentiation, by embracing innovation and doubling down efforts Payments improvements become more imperative than ever.
That’s why PYMNTS doesn’t take a break when it comes to tracking the latest advancements shaping tomorrow’s B2B landscape. The main themes we heard this week were small businesses’ access to the working capital and financing solutions they desperately need, the ongoing digitalization of the B2B payments space – and the benefits it offers – the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) for B2B. , as well as some exciting fundraisers and product launches.
Learn more: Workflow automation and flexible financing lead this week in B2B innovation
Providing credit to small businesses is more than just a pat on the back
Small businesses are the lifeblood of local economies, a role that also has upstream implications in national and even global markets. Resolution For their needs can have far-reaching impacts – which is why FinTech and other innovators are increasingly working to provide usable solutions for small businesses.
This, like Tuesday (April 16), Finmid came out of stealth and announced it had raised 35 million euros ($37 million) to expand its integrated financing solution to businesses across Europe.
The same day, Lendique And EBizCharge teamed up to launch a integrated business credit solution for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in the United States, and Fast financing teamed up with Galileo Financial Technologies on a small business financing solution.
Meanwhile, PYMNTS reported Tuesday how the deadline is in the process of complying with the small business data collection requirements of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), as required by Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act (DFA) of 2010. The new regulatory reporting rules are designed to increase transparency in small business lending, as well as promote economic development and combat unlawful discrimination in financing outcomes.
One day later, Wednesday (April 17), full-stack payment processor Finix launched a solution that allows businesses to integrate merchants for payment acceptance in a streamlined manner. New Merchant subscription The solution also ensures that businesses stay up to date with changing government and card network regulations. And sponsor banks.
Also Wednesday, Lump sum payment raised 45 million euros ($48 million) in a Series B funding round to expand its offering of point-of-sale (POS) systems and payment solutions designed for SMBs,
Driving B2B payments with digital mechanisms
With the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta highlighting On Monday (April 15), Federal Reserve banks will adopt the ISO 20022 message format for Fedwire Funds service on March 10 modernize B2B payments is increasingly a priority for organizations, if it was not already the case.
Modern technology makes modern business strategies possible. After all, in a context where many companies are missing modern B2B payment offerings and rely too heavily on existing systems, offering best-in-class Payments experience can often make the difference between bills paid in right time and relationships that eventually deteriorate due to continued technical disconnection.
This is why, as PYMNTS explained, carry out a self-assessment This is a key first step for businesses considering undertaking a digital transformation of their accounts payable and accounts receivable functions. As for the last step? It’s a better B2B payments experience, for all parties.
Continue the migration of the professional payments and expense management sector to digital platforms, MasterCard announced Thursday April 18 that it was bringing your business cards to mobile wallets.
According to Chad Wallace, Global Head of Business Solutions at Mastercard, the primary use case for the application will be expense reporting and reconciliation processes for businesses and their employees. It also provides new technologies and services that financial institutions can extend to their business accounts. But he doesn’t expect its use to be limited to frequent business travelers.
Learn more: Digital wallets can transform B2B payments, but will they?
“We’ve had our virtual card platform for a while, typically for procurement use cases,” he told PYMNTS. “And many of them are B2B transactions. They are integrated into various different verticals such as online travel agencies that can pay hotel chains and airlines, all virtually map. Next, we started to take a closer look at some of the different use cases we could use virtual cards for.
Digitalization is increasingly revolutionizing the B2B landscape with streamlined procurement processes and even better payment flows.
You do not believe in it ? Look no further than the US government, the world’s largest buyer, which is expanding its $6 billion e-commerce initiative to include more online marketplaces, opening up a potentially lucrative revenue stream for the United States. 33 million small enterprises.
“We thought that just as governments have a big platform for their big contracts, what if they had a big platform for their small supply needs: anything that does not need to be tendered or any purchase that agencies can make with their credit cards, » Paola SantanaCEO of Glasstold PYMNTS.
Yet despite the prevalence of digital alternatives, checks remain a problem. preferred payment method for many organizations.
PYMNTS Intelligence research highlights this trend, revealing that checks make up a significant portion of business-to-business (B2B) transactions across various industries. In the real estate, almost 21% of B2B transactions involve checks, while retailers count on checks for 15.2% of their B2B payments.
According to “How ad hoc instant payment costs impact small SMEs“, a PYMNTS Intelligence and Ingo Payments collaboration, the cost of system upgrades remains a deterrent for businesses that could benefit from it most.
AI arrives in the B2B landscape
With the news Tuesday this Inteltogether with several other industrial partners, is collaborating on a Sandbox project called the Open Platform for Enterprise AI (OPEA) which aims to accelerate secure and cost-effective GenAI deployments for businesses, AI implementation is increasingly a priority for businesses.
And this was followed by the news Google CFO Ruth Porat is restructuring the tech giant’s finance team on Wednesday (April 17) as the company seeks to redistribute resources toward AI, stressing that the impact of adoption A more technology-driven approach is a priority for finance functions and the CFO. leaders of companies, large and small.
And for the “AI effect” series on Thursday (April 18), PYMNTS spoke with MJ Jiangdirector of strategy at CredibleAnd Ryan Rosettco-founder and CEO of Credably, to discuss how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the world. SME underwriting landscape.
Riding the wave of AI, Emagic on Tuesday launched an AI platform designed to streamline B2B Payments orchestration for global businesses.
B2B market movements
B2B Credit Card Platform Flexible plans to expand after raising $19 million. The financing cycle, announcement Wednesday (April 17) was led by PayPal Businesses and brings Berlin-based Pliant’s total Series A funding to more than $53 million.
Expense management platform Ramp said it was now a $7.6 billion companyas he finished a $150 million, Series D-2 financing cycle, while AffiniPay has expanded availability of its payment processing solutions for lawyers and accounting professionals in Puerto Rico. Digital payments platform World premiere launched a solution, Global tradeto help small businesses accelerate cross-border payments.
The digital transformation of banking continues to reshape how financial institutions meet changing consumer expectations. VSat the heart of this evolution are partnershipswho play a central role in improving customer experience and streamlining financial processes.
The question of whether it is preferable to buy, build Or partner when it comes to facilitating cross-border payments to promote growth.
