FastPay Accelerates Payments Down Media Supply Chains

Business lender FastPay is integrating its financing offering with an accounts payable feature for its users, the company said Thursday (June 1), a move that aims to accelerate the movement of money down the supply chain for digital media businesses.

FastPay revealed the launch of COMPLETE, a portal through which companies can access receivables financing so they can more quickly pay their own vendors. The solution was developed for advertisers and agencies, the company said, and provides faster supplier payment capabilities.

“Having processed nearly $2 billion in payment advances, we’ve seen firsthand the friction of collecting from buyers and disbursing to vendors throughout the media supply chain,” the firm’s President and COO Secil Baysal said in a statement. “We believe offering advanced payment solutions paired with lending is a strong value proposition to our client base and will dramatically improve efficiency within the media supply chain.”

According to FastPay, media vendors are facing longer payment terms from their corporate customers, advertisers and agencies. In many cases, the company said, it can take up to 120 days to get paid, leading to cash flow struggles that, in turn, force vendors to pay their own suppliers on longer payment terms.

COMPLETE facilitates access to receivables financing that can fill cash flow gaps while a company waits to get paid and supports the disbursement of those funds to clients’ own suppliers via ACH, wire and card payments.

For payments made with cards, FastPay is collaborating with Comdata to integrate virtual card payment capabilities. Meanwhile, the company noted, it is leveraging its existing partnership with AFEX to disburse funds to vendors in various currencies across borders.