The B2B accounts receivable automation and integrated-payments company Billtrust says it surpassed $1 billion in supplier invoices delivered to accounts payable (AP) portals in 2021.
The Lawrenceville, New Jersey, company announced this milestone in a news release Thursday (Jan. 20), saying it marked Billtrust’s largest single-year total and a 58% increase over 2020.
“The dramatic rise can be attributed to increased adoption of Billtrust’s Business Payments Network (BPN), which began enabling invoice presentment to accounts payable (AP) portals in addition to its existing payment and remittance acceptance capabilities,” the company said. “In all, Billtrust delivered approximately 400,000 invoices to over 175 different AP portals in 2021.”
The company notes that increasing demand from buyers to deliver invoices through their AP portals had led to difficulty for accounts receivable (AR) teams and led to a dramatic increase in manual workloads.
Billtrust points to a study it commissioned last year that found that 38% of respondents listed “dealing with increasing numbers of customer portals” as a chief concern. A majority of respondents said that their teams interact with between 11 and 20 AP portals on average.
“The proliferation of AP portals has increased demand for BPN’s bi-directional capabilities,” said Steve Pinado, Billtrust president. “We are proud to have achieved this important milestone in invoice delivery for our customers and anticipate further acceleration of this activity across the B2B landscape. BPN continues to be a critical driver in maximizing cash flow while digitally transforming B2B payment acceptance and reconciliation.”
In November, Billtrust reported that it processed $21 billion in customer payment transactions in the third quarter of 2021, a 41% increase from $14.9 billion the year before.
“The world is moving more and more to electronic billing and payments, and suppliers and buyers need help with that transition,” company founder and CEO Flint Lane said on an earnings call at the time. “Companies are seeing an opportunity to generate significant cost savings and improve cash collections by digitizing accounts receivable workflows.”