The B2B payments space has been hot for a while. But now mass adoption of digitizing finances – fueled largely by the COVID-19 pandemic – is only driving demand in the sector.
Startups and enterprise players in the segment are adding to their offerings, while at the same time seeing more interest in their existing services. Meanwhile, other companies continue to raise funding.
Calif.-based Paystand, a blockchain-enabled B2B payments platform, revealed that it’s seen 200% year-over-year monthly payment volume. The startup said it’s also seen the number of businesses paying through its “zero transaction fee” network jump by 40% to 140,000 compared to this same time last year. Revenue is up two and a half times year over year as well, the company said.
Paystand operates its commercial payments platform under a Payment-as-a-Service model.
“This year illustrated that doing business ‘the old way’ is no longer economically viable. In fact, it’s a recipe for going out of business,” said Paystand CEO and co-founder Jeremy Almond.
Meanwhile, on the East Coast, an already well-funded B2B payments company AvidXchange quietly raised an additional $118.9 million in equity, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). With this latest infusion, AvidXchange has now raised over $1.1 billion across a mix of venture, private equity and convertible note financings since its founding in 2000, according to Crunchbase data.
AvidXchange, a provider of accounts payable (AP) and payment automation solutions for the middle market, believes there’s still plenty of opportunity.
Only 40 percent of U.S. businesses automate their accounts payable processes, noted AvidXchange CEO and co-founder Michael Praeger, in a written statement at the time of the company’s April raise.
“We continue to solve a real problem for companies that still rely on paper invoices and checks, fundamentally changing the way they pay their bills,” he said. “This has become even more evident as we see businesses implementing continuity plans and shifting to work from home models, making automation essential to support mission-critical processes and keep operations running.”
Both Paystand and AvidXchange made the 2020 Inc. 5000 with the former ranking No. 454 with 1,007% three-year growth and the latter coming in at No. 2,958 with three-year growth of 133%.