Mesh Taps Visa For Cross-Border Corporate V-Cards

B2B payments firm Mesh has announced a collaboration with Visa that will enable Mesh to integrate Visa virtual cards into its supplier payment service.

In a press release issued on Tuesday (Nov. 12), Mesh said the integration will ease friction in virtual card acceptance for suppliers, while enabling buyers to take advantage of the speed and transparency of prepaid commercial cards. Their partnership targets cross-border B2B payments, which face a particularly large struggle when it comes to payment traceability and speed, according to Mesh.

Mesh focuses on vendors across emerging markets, allowing these businesses to connect to corporate buyers around the world. With a focus on both accounts payable and accounts receivable, Mesh’s services promote electronic payment adoption on both sides of a B2B transaction.

“SMBs are going global faster than ever, which is fueling innovation in this space,” said Mesh Co-founder and CEO Oded Zehavi in a statement. “By working together with Visa as our preferred partner, we are taking the complexity out of payments. With Visa’s global reach and our advanced technology platform, we are enabling payment providers and merchant acquirers to offer all types of businesses globally a frictionless B2B payment option that brings balance into commercial payments.”

In another statement, Taira Hall, Visa’s head of B2B partnerships, said, “This is a transformational time in the cross-border B2B payments industry. Mesh delivers a unique solution that simplifies the cross-border payments experience for businesses needing to pay their global suppliers.”

Visa is expanding its presence in the B2B payments and commercial card segment. Earlier this week, the company revealed plans to launch a small business credit card in conjunction with neobank Open. Dubbed the Founder’s Card, it aims to connect SMBs to value-added services like recurring payments management, expense management and rewards.

Visa and other commercial card players have also increased their focus on virtual cards in the B2B payments space, pointing to their ability to promote security and spend control for business users.