Edenred Expands B2B Payment Network

Invoice-to-pay automation provider Edenred Pay has joined forces with business payments/cash management company Bottomline.

The collaboration, announced Wednesday (Jan. 14), will see the companies integrate Bottomline’s payment network Paymode into the Edenred Pay platform, extending the Edenred Pay Network to 800,000 vendors.

“This partnership represents a major leap forward in connecting buyers and vendors through an embedded, intelligent payment experience,” Alex Hoffmann, general manager of Edenred Pay, said in a news release.

“By bringing Paymode into our ecosystem, we’re giving customers access to one of the largest networks of verified vendors available today. More vendors, more payment choices, more automation: this is how finance teams accelerate digital transformation while keeping full control over security, visibility, and cash flow.”

The companies say their partnership is designed to promote higher digital payment adoption, provide better remittance data to vendors, and improve customer and vendor satisfaction through a streamlined experience.

It lets organizations accelerate the digitization of their payables, ease friction, boost conversion to digital payments, and improve reconciliation, the release added.

“For customers, this isn’t just about payments – it’s about making integration simple,” said Mike Jackson, senior vice president of Paymode at Bottomline. “Finance teams don’t have to juggle multiple systems or chase vendor enrollment. One secure connection speeds up onboarding and makes digital payments easier, without adding complexity. It’s a smarter way to move payables forward, and we’re excited to welcome Edenred Pay and their customers to our network.”

PYMNTS collaborated with Edenred Pay last year on the “Invoice-to-Pay Automation Tracker® Series,” which looked in part at the setbacks in how the advertising and media industry manages the money behind its work.

“Creative production has been reshaped by AI, media buying has splintered across thousands of digital touchpoints, and analytics have pushed the business into a state of perpetual optimization,” PYMNTS wrote.

However, the study found that “the financial plumbing that makes campaigns possible still runs on spreadsheets, PDFs, emailed invoices, manual approvals, and a patchwork of legacy systems that don’t talk to one another.”

It’s in this environment that late payments have grown alarmingly common. The report data suggests that over half of digital media payments this year have arrived behind schedule, adding strain to publishers, freelancers and platform partners who depend on reliable payment cycles to manage their own operations.

“The cumulative effect is a subtle but meaningful drag on the entire advertising supply chain,” PYMNTS added.