Today in B2B payments, Balance raises $25 million in Series A funding and PayMate partners with Citi and Visa. Plus, Brex debuts a financing tool, Hopper expands into B2B service with Hopper Cloud and global B2B payments slip in the first half of 2021 because of lack of convenience.
Balance Rakes In $25M To Digitize B2B eCommerce Payments
B2B eCommerce payment platform Balance announced Wednesday (Aug. 25) it raised $25 million in Series A funding.
Ribbit Capital led the fundraising round, with participation from new investor Avid Ventures and existing investors Lightspeed Ventures, Stripe, Y Combinator Continuity Fund, SciFi VC and UpWest. Other individual investors in Balance’s latest funding round include executives from Plaid, Coinbase, Square, Stripe and PayPal.
Visa, Citi, PayMate Partner To Automate Payables In The UAE
Indian B2B digital payments company PayMate has partnered with Visa and Citi to automate payables based in the United Arab Emirates.
This is not the first time Visa is working with the Indian firm. The global company has an initial relationship with PayMate, a Visa-certified Business Payment Solution Provider, through which a significant number of corporations and small businesses in India use Visa commercial cards to make payments across multiple industry verticals.
Through this new alliance, the Indian company will be looking to expand its B2B payments platform, used by more than 105,000 Indian businesses, into other countries in the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
Brex Rolls Out Debt Financing Tool
Silicon Valley FinTech Brex is launching a new product to extend debt financing with longer terms and speedier due diligence to some of its select business customers.
Brex Founder and Co-CEO Henrique Dubugras said in a press release Wednesday (Aug. 25) that the startup is always aiming to “support growing businesses,” and is launching new products as its customer base continues to grow.
With Domestic Travel Booming, Hopper Bets Its New Services Will Take Off Too
Hopper has recently expanded into the B2B realm, with its new Hopper Cloud initiative, which makes its travel FinTech products available to any third-party that’s looking to sell travel services.
Hopper Founder and CEO Fred Lalonde told PYMNTS airlines routinely tack on fees for what used to be free, and Hopper has become the first FinTech startup to find a way to squeeze more money out of the average traveler since online bookings became a thing.
Report: Lyft Uses Same-Day Pay, Free Bank Accounts To Build Driver Loyalty
Global B2B payments slipped between January and June, and it appears that convenience, or a lack thereof, is the crux of the issue. Businesses, like consumers, want seamless and secure cross-border payment methods. While making these global B2B payments has always been a challenge, working from home has exacerbated these processes’ difficulties.
The August Global B2B Payments Playbook® examines the latest B2B payment developments, including why the increased use of banking as a service (BaaS) is making waves in the B2B space.
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