Today in B2B Payments: Embedded Finance in B2B Payments Means Customer Convenience; Open Communication and Tight Oversight for CFOs in 2022

Today in B2B payments, FLEETCOR adds Accrualify to continue diversifying its portfolio, while the digital B2B payments shift comes to Wall Street with the Plastiq SPAC deal with Colonnade Acquisition Corp. II. Plus, consumer convenience comes to B2B payments through the addition of embedded finance, and CFOs are keeping open communication lines and tight oversight on finances this year.

Plastiq’s SPAC Deal Brings SMB’s Digital B2B Payments Shift to Wall Street

Plastiq, the B2B payment platform focused on small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), said it had entered into an agreement to merge with Colonnade Acquisition Corp. II and then list its shares, according to a company press release Thursday (Aug. 4).

The implied estimated enterprise value of about $480 million at closing, which equates to 6.4 times forecasted net revenues of $75 million, and roughly 4.6 times the forecasted $100 million in sales projected for next year.

A projected surge of 33% for the top line, even in a volatile macro environment, is nothing to take lightly; beyond that metric, the release noted that there is a $9 trillion addressable market opportunity in the United States alone. The shift, of course, is one that moves SMBs onto payments platforms and away from paper checks and invoices and can also help lower the fees that accompany the transactions themselves. Payments choice across wire, ACH and bank transfers can help unlock the trillions of dollars that are frozen in accounts receivables on any given day.

Voice of the CFO: CFOs Keep Communication Open and Oversight Tight in 2022

For a leveraged finance business that must react to a lot of push and pulls in the market, awareness, preparedness and measurability are key capabilities. Kafene is a one-stop-shop point-of-sale (POS) payment partner and underwriting technology platform that helps merchants offer flexible lease-to-own (LTO) purchases.

Roland Jeon joined the 3-year-old company in May with a background that includes a decade of experience as a flexible capital investor. As Kafene’s first chief financial officer (CFO), Jeon is tasked with setting the strategic direction of the company’s finance organization as the company scales.

Interviewed for the PYMNTS series “A Day in the Life of a Digital-First CFO,” Jeon said many of Kafene’s customers are near-prime or subprime consumers who don’t have access to conventional consumer loans, or even buy now, pay later (BNPL). The company has grown in this sector and is exploring other verticals as well.

Business Payments Company FLEETCOR Acquires AP Software Firm Accrualify

FLEETCOR, a global business payments company, announced Wednesday (Aug. 3) that it has acquired accounts payable (AP) automation software company Accrualify. This will help FLEETCOR’s portfolio of payments solutions and add to its corporate payments platform capabilities, according to the company press release.

Accrualify automates procure-to-pay processes for companies, and the cloud-based software gives midmarket companies end-to-end procurement, invoice process automation and payments execution.

FLEETCOR has made other acquisitions, having bought airline software company Levarti in March. Levarti automates passenger notifications, flight rebookings, hotel accommodations, transfers and vouchers. Levarti debuted its MAX software suite in 2014, with several airlines using it to digitize operations and communications. Its MAX app provides end-to-end digital experiences around check-in, in-flight services and baggage claim.

Embedded Finance Brings Consumer Convenience to B2B Payments

Driven by changing customer preferences, a growing number of companies are adopting embedded finance solutions in both their business-to-business (B2B) and their consumer-facing payment verticals.

In fact, embedded finance is already becoming the next phase in B2B payments, according to the “Embedded Finance Tracker,” a PYMNTS and Galileo Financial Technologies collaboration.

The report cites a survey that found that more than 80% of banks offer clients the ability to use their own enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to access accounts and make payments to suppliers or vendors — or plan to offer it. The next generation of this development could see banks using application programming interfaces (APIs) to embed more services into supply-chain finance and other systems.

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