Today in B2B: Razer Fintech Expands Into Indonesia; How Digital-First CFOs Use Data

Today in B2B payments, Tipalty adds accounts payable invoice collaboration features to its platform, and instant pay is becoming a recruiting tool to attract top freelancers. Plus, Codat raises $100 million in a Series C investment round, and Hello Pay rolls out suite of business solution products for EMEA SMBs.

Instant Pay Becoming Critical Tool in War for Freelance Talent

Businesses’ outdated payment systems can find themselves contending with delays and errors that can quickly result in financial hardship for employees. And for freelancers and contractors, those problems are usually more frequent, according to “Expanding Payments Choice,” a PYMNTS and Onbe collaboration.

That’s especially troubling for workers who lack benefits afforded to full-time staff and rely entirely on timely payments for their livelihood. By granting them access to their wages the moment they are earned, and thereby helping address their potential financial hardships, digital payments could significantly influence employment decisions and retention.

Razer Fintech Adds PT E2Pay Global Utama for Indonesia Expansion

Razer Fintech, the financial technology arm of gamer-focused brand Razer, has acquired Indonesian B2B2C digital payment facilitator PT E2Pay Global Utama, expanding its offline to online (O2O) digital payment network into Indonesia, according to a Wednesday (June 8) press release.

E2Pay offers payment gateway, eMoney and remittance services licenses to merchants and financial institutions in Indonesia, complementing Razer Merchant Services, Razer Fintech’s regional business-to-business (B2B) arm, to facilitate cross-border payments for its 60,000 merchants.

Hello Pay Debuts Business Solution Package for EMEA SMBs

Hello Pay has launched a suite of business solutions for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and entrepreneurs that will enable growth, cut costs and increase their financial access, according to a Financial IT report Wednesday (June 8).

Hello Pay’s SoftPOS offering allows users to process payments, access daily auto reconciliation and activate and control multiple devices with one account. Hello Pay is also launching its Business Solution to enhance its SMB offering, giving merchants access to loans, business cover, armed response and more.

Digital-First CFOs Turn Everyday Data Into ‘Change-the-Business’ Insights

Given the amount of data subscription services generate, the biggest challenge for a chief financial officer (CFO) is getting the data, reporting it and identifying actionable insights that can be shared with business partners.

“I think CFO is a role that you’ve got to sort of have your foundation laid — whether it’s the compliance, the payments or the reporting — and then use that as a means for working to support the other business initiatives — whether it’s on the product side, marketing or engineering — and be a supportive partner to help them achieve their goals, which will, in turn, help the company achieve its ones,” Tom Fuelling, CFO at TuneIn, told PYMNTS.

In his role at the audio-subscription service, which he joined in May after more than 25 years of experience at other media and tech companies, one of Fuelling’s focuses will be on making sure there’s visibility into the business. That means keeping a sharp eye on metrics like, usage, listening hours, ads, devices used, churn and price points.

JPMorgan, Shopify, Plaid Invest in Small Business API Firm Codat

Codat, a universal application programming interface (API) for small business data, has raised $100 million in a Series C investment that will help build and reinforce critical infrastructure, according to a Wednesday (June 8) press release.

J.P. Morgan Growth Equity Partners led the Series C round, which also saw participation from Shopify, Canapi Ventures and Plaid, among others. As part of the investment, Patrick McGoldrick, a partner at J.P. Morgan Growth Equity Partners, will also join Codat’s board.

The upgraded infrastructure will help Codat become the default means of sharing data for the small business economy, per the release. Codat’s API is used by Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), lending and payment companies to build products for smaller business customers, including neobanks building cash flow forecasts and payment providers building new accounting software syncing methods.

Tipalti Adds AP Invoice Collaboration Features

Global payments platform Tipalti on Wednesday (June 8) debuted Bill Talk and Bill Docs within its accounts payable automation solution to streamline invoice approvals, according to a company press release.

Buyers and approvers can now collaborate easier and invoices are ready for audit quicker, which speeds up the approval cycle, the press release said.

Bill Talk and Bill Docs allow buyers, accounts payable staff and business approvers to “work with each other directly on the bill by exchanging questions and comments and attaching documents within Tipalti, all without needing to log in,” according to the press release.