Corporate Card Investment Heats Up In Possible Sign Of Business Travel Return

Corporate card innovation — and competition — are heating up as industry FinTechs pursue new funding and invest in value-added functionality. This week’s Commercial Card Tracker finds impressive funding rounds and a focus on spend management, a possible sign of accelerated B2B payments digitization and the eventual return of the business trip.

Pleo Plans $100 Million In Funding

Commercial card and expense management startup Pleo is planning on raising $100 million in Series C funding, according to recent reports. While that initiative takes shape, the company announced the rollout of its B2B bill payment solution Bills, which allows companies to streamline their bill and supplier payments based on vendor payment terms.

Brex Lands $7.4 Billion Valuation

As Pleo awaits its funding, corporate card startup Brex has secured a $425 million investment round, raising its valuation to $7.4 billion. In addition to the fundraise, which was led by Tiger Global, Brex also debuted its business financial management platform to connect small businesses with a dashboard that unifies visibility across card and cash accounts, with integrated spend management and bill payment tools. “Growing and maintaining a business should not depend on how good a small business owner is at managing their finances,” said Cosmin Nicolaescu, Brex chief technology officer, in a press release.

Cardlay Nabs Global PayTech Ventures Backing

Also securing new investment for its corporate card and spend management technology is Cardlay, which announced backing from Global PayTech Ventures. Cardlay offers an integrated expense management and corporate card issuance platform. Using application programming interface (API) connectivity, Cardlay supports real-time card issuance for banks and corporates with the ability to close the gap between corporate cards, tax reclaims, and travel and expense management. The firm did not disclose how much it raised.

Mastercard Debuts New SMB Card In India

In partnership with Bank of Baroda’s BoB Financial unit, Mastercard is rolling out a new small business credit card product integrated with QR code technology.  The payment tool allows small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to send and receive funds with support for Mastercard’s ConQR tool that supports transactions without the need to share sensitive information. “The ‘QR on Card’ makes payments safer and more flexible while empowering the cardholders to spend and earn on the same card,” said Bank of Baroda Executive Director Vikramaditya Singh Khichi.

Plastiq Continues Supplier Card Acceptance Effort

Corporate card technology firm Plastiq is continuing its effort to enable businesses to make B2B payments via cards. The company announced a partnership with Billfire, which will integrate Plastiq technology into its accounts receivable automation solution and support card acceptance without charging a merchant fee. “Partnering up with Plastiq means we’ll be able to broaden credit card acceptance for our customers and allow them to avoid unwanted merchant fees,” said Billfire CEO John Lockhart in a statement.

DXC Enhances Commercial Card Processing For First Horizon Bank

First Horizon Bank is working with DXC Technology to streamline its commercial card processing capabilities, according to a recent press release. DXC will embed its commercial card infrastructure with the bank to bolster its processing and customer support services, including fraud support and monitoring.