FinTech Bespoke Financial reportedly plans to expand its business-to-business (B2B) buy now, pay later (BNPL) offering for cannabis dispensaries in California and Massachusetts.
A pilot of the BNPL product was launched in July and has proven to be successful, according to a Thursday (Aug. 25) report from Reuters that cited Bespoke Financial CEO George Mancheril.
“Cannabis has always been its own microcosm, where because of federal illegality we have less access to capital relative to other industries,” Mancheril said, per the report.
For the BNPL offering, Bespoke Financial has partnered with cannabis-focused technology company Blaze Solutions, with Bespoke offering access to financing and Blaze providing the point-of-sale (POS) software, according to a July 5 press release that announced the launch of the beta testing of the product with a select group of businesses.
This B2B BNPL option enables cannabis retailers to view financing terms and then finance purchase orders to vendors, thereby minimizing their reliance on cash transactions, per the release.
Because the cannabis industry’s suppliers have typically demanded cash on delivery (COD), retailers often had to limit the amount of product they carried or use their cash flow to buy inventory, according to the release.
“Through this partnership, the new dispensary financing program expands our footprint into California and Massachusetts, two of the most established cannabis retail markets on each coast, respectively,” Mancheril said in the July press release. “This new forward thinking lending product combines accessible, scalable financing with an industry-leading POS platform.”
The announcement of plans to expand the program came days after cannabis industry payments firm Aeropay joined forces with cannabis eCommerce and dispensary management software provider Dispense to enable retailers to offer cashless payments at checkout.
Read more: Aeropay Helps Software Maker Dispense Offer Cashless Cannabis Payments
Aeropay Founder and CEO Daniel Muller said in a press release that “this newest integration offers businesses simple dispensary management software and [search engine optimization] tools that will substantially improve [return on investment].”