Paying bills is rarely fun. And it’s not just that — paying bills is also rarely easy, especially as a business.
That’s why, across today’s bill pay landscape, which remains full of manual legacy solutions, whenever a bill gets paid, there is often a more convenient and streamlined way to do it.
And according to Paymentus Holdings’ Founder and CEO Dushyant Sharma, more and more businesses are coming to embrace a digital transformation of their bill pay operations.
This, as Sharma told investors on Monday’s (May 6) investor call for his company’s first quarter 2024 financial results that Paymentus processed 135.3 million transactions in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 24.7% from the first quarter of 2023.
“Paymentus began this year with another outstanding quarter, driven mainly by higher transaction activity from both new and existing billers,” Sharma said.
He noted that Paymentus signed new clients in utilities, general services, transportation and logistics, government, banking and other verticals during the quarter, as well as implemented billers in multiple verticals — utilities, insurance, government agencies, financial institutions and others.
“Revenue, contribution profit and adjusted EBITDA all grew year-over-year by 24.6%, 29.6% and 135.5%, respectively. We continue to see strong momentum in our bookings and backlog, supporting our positive outlook for the rest of 2024,” Sharma said.
Paymentus stock was trading up by around 5% as of reporting.
Read more: Can Convenience Turn Digital Bills Into Digital Payments?
Traditional payment systems have limitations that often fall short of meeting the needs of both billers and consumers.
That’s why digital billing solutions are becoming key to fixing the ongoing paper jam that continues to hamstring back-office workflows of many businesses, particularly those in fragmented and complex sectors like healthcare and others that remain decidedly behind the digital shift in terms of payments technology.
“We’re seeing more demand for a holistic platform,” Sharma told investors.
Paymentus executives emphasized that the company was able to “surpass the Rule of 40 by a large margin this quarter, at 58%,” without sacrificing growth or innovation.
The Rule of 40 is a SaaS (software-as-a-service) financial ratio which states that a healthy SaaS company has a combined growth rate and profit margin of 40% or more.
“We have no technological gaps,” Sharma said, noting that Paymentus is not eyeing any M&A activity. “We are heavily focused on executing, that’s where our capital allocation strategy lies.”
Read more: Can Convenience Turn Digital Bills Into Digital Payments?
Executives also noted the company’s history within artificial intelligence (AI), highlighting its role within bill pay transformation initiatives and customer onboarding.
“Well before AI was a buzzword, we filed a patent for an AI integration framework” to help clients integrate “more of their processes with us,” said Sharma. “This AI-based framework, when integrated into our onboarding processes, will bring increased speed and shows how the prudent deployment of AI can be a key part of our strategic execution.”
In 2023, the average American received and paid more than 16.8 monthly bills. PYMNTS Intelligence has found that many Americans are seeking a single, inclusive and convenient platform to view and pay their bills.
Digitizing and modernizing the bill payment experience benefits both businesses and consumers alike by making the process more efficient, convenient and secure. That’s because historically, many businesses relied on manual processes or outdated systems to collect payments from customers, leading to delays, errors and a poor customer experience.
Modern bill pay solutions help businesses improve their operational efficiency and reduce costs by automating key aspects of the billing and payment process.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
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