Billtrust Reports 45% Rise in Transactions Processed as Customers Increasingly Adopt Digital AR Solutions

The market for digital accounts receivable (AR) transformation is expanding and Billtrust expects to take a disproportionate share, the company said during an earnings call on Wednesday (Nov. 10).

The B2B AR automation and integrated-payments company reported that it processed $21 billion in customer payment transactions in the third quarter, up 41% from $14.9 billion a year ago.

“The world is moving more and more to electronic billing and payments, and suppliers and buyers need help with that transition,” Billtrust founder and CEO Flint Lane said during the call. “Companies are seeing an opportunity to generate significant cost savings and improve cash collections by digitizing accounts receivable workflows.”

Moving to Digital Solutions

Several other trends have also contributed to the growth, he added. A rapid uptake of accounts payable (AP) software solutions has made invoice presentment, remittance capture and electronic payment processing more complicated for suppliers.

On top of the pandemic, which forced many to work from home and reduced U.S. Post Office service, governments have required B2B sellers to interact with electronic tax validation systems to present invoices.

“We see the direct impacts of that in our customer portfolio and accompanying invoice and dollar volumes on our platform,” Lane said.

To compete for that market, Billtrust continues to invest in research and development (R&D) and sales and marketing.

Investing in Sales, Marketing and R&D

“We’ve invested aggressively in sales and marketing, and we’re going to continue to invest in sales and marketing when we can see the returns,” Lane said.

On the topic of R&D, he added, “The Business Payments Network is a massive breakout opportunity for us and we’re going to fund that aggressively.”

Noting another third-quarter development, Lane said Billtrust established a European presence in October with its acquisition of iController, a Belgian B2B provider of collection management solutions with several hundred customers throughout Europe using its products.

“We now have a great beachhead in Belgium to expand from, and we would expect to do so in the very near future,” Lane said. “I don’t think this is a three-year thing; this is an immediate-term thing.”