The eInvoice Emerges As The Keystone Of AR-AP Connectivity

With more B2B payment technology providers turning their attention to the electronic invoice, the document has become a keystone that connects accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) portals.

In this week’s look at the convergence of AR and AP, new solutions from Taulia, Transfermate, Fairfax and others wield the eInvoice to accelerate payments to vendors, ease workflow friction and bolster cash flow for both buyer and supplier.

Billtrust Broadens AP Integrations

Order-to-cash and accounts receivable solutions provider Billtrust is strengthening its connection with its customers’ customers through more accounts payable integrations.

The company announced this week that it is now able to connect into more than 100 AP portals. The connectivity between AR and AP technologies is key to ensuring that accounts receivable professionals are able to efficiently deliver the invoices they generate via Billtrust for faster payment without the need to manually key in billing data.

“As many suppliers are aware, the recent proliferation of online AP portals has created additional manual work for invoicing teams,” Billtrust said in its announcement, citing upcoming research from the Credit Research Foundation that found 89 percent of surveyed credit professionals said they work with at least one customer that requires manual invoice uploads.

Taulia Targets Supplier Invoicing Via The Buyer

In an effort to help businesses that are struggling to continue operating in a work-from-home environment, Taulia has debuted its Rapid Start Invoicing solution, a tool that enables small vendors to digitize their invoicing process.

The company is targeting those vendors through the AP departments of their corporate customers. Rapid Start Invoicing enables AP teams to guide their own vendors to eInvoicing to streamline invoice processing and payments, and to ensure that cash continues to flow through the supply chain.

Tradewind Eases Buyer-Supplier Cash Flow

Trade finance company Tradewind Finance is positioning itself to ease cash flows on both the AR and AP ends of the B2B spectrum. The company issued a press release this week revealing more flexible invoice factoring capabilities that allow suppliers to extend longer payment terms to their buyers without giving up capital.

Tradewind will now factor invoices with payment terms of up to 180 days, the company said, as it looks to ease cash flow pressures on global supply chains and help buyers hold onto capital longer while enabling suppliers to access capital more quickly.

AP Startup Libeo Eyes Vendor Collaboration

With new funding, France-based Libeo is looking to help B2B buyers and suppliers to collaborate more seamlessly. The AP FinTech recently announced that it will deploy a $4.35 million investment round to focus on company growth.

Libeo offers an invoice automation and AP digitization solution for small and medium-sized businesses that need deeper insight into their payables and cash flows.

“Paying and communicating with a supplier should be as simple and intuitive as sending a message on a social network,” stated the company’s founders, Pierre Dutaret, Jeremy Attuil and Pierre-Antoine Glandier.

TransferMate Eases Payments On Invoices

TransferMate Global Payments is debuting a new invoice payments feature designed to make it easier for suppliers to get paid on their invoices, while also easing friction for the payer.

Announced this week, TransferMate’s new tool wields its network of local bank accounts and API integration capabilities that enable suppliers to send invoices and request payment to ensure that transaction values match invoice amounts. Payers, meanwhile, can settle invoices in their local currency, while vendors also receive funds in their local currency, enabling B2B payments to occur more quickly, the company said.

Previse Automates Invoice Exceptions

While it is positioned as a company that accelerates payments to suppliers, Previse operates on the AP side of the B2B transaction. The company, which recently secured $11 million in new funding, automates invoice processing and analyzes corporate buyer data to identify which invoices will need manual intervention, enabling the rest of the bills to be paid automatically.

The technology accelerates the order-to-cash cycle for vendors and supports healthier cash flow to SMBs, while easing AP friction on the buyer side.

Fairfax Embraces eInvoice’s Convenience

In a recent conversation with PYMNTS, Fairfax Software CEO and President Steve Chahal discussed the company’s recent collaboration with Mexico’s Indicium, a pairing that sees Fairfax enabling payments processing within eInvoices sent via the Indicum solution eFactura.

According to Chahal, marrying payments and invoicing solves a “convenience problem,” and not only for the supplier sending the invoice.

“For accounts receivable, when the link is right there to pay the invoice, nothing falls through the cracks,” he said. “For accounts payable, it’s a one-stop-shop to make a payment.”