Visa Pairs Business Cards With Cybersecurity, Plate IQ Links With Accounting Tech

Spend management remains the focus for commercial card innovators as FinTechs look to bolster security and control for employers and employees alike. This week’s Commercial Card Innovation roundup explores the latest value-added features, from Visa’s cybersecurity offer to Float’s outsourced accounting collaboration.

Visa Bolsters Business Card Security With McAfee

Visa is teaming up with cybersecurity outfit McAfee to extend value for Visa Business cardholders. In a press release, the companies said their collaboration will allow financial institutions that issue Visa cards to offer corporate clients access to discounted internet security services from McAfee. The offering will be available across North America as well as Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Visa pointed to small businesses as particularly vulnerable to growing cyber threats.

Ramp Strengthens Employee Card Spend Controls

Corporate card FinTech Ramp is expanding functionality of its employee spend management features with the introduction of a tool that allows managers to block spend at certain merchants. The firm’s CEO Eric Glyman told TechCrunch that the feature was among the most requested by business clients, and the new capability can significantly cut down the risk of fraud as a result of stolen corporate cards, as well as employee misuse of company funds.

Mastercard Readies Cape For Beta Launch

Corporate card startup Cape, based in Australia, has announced its Principal Membership partnership with Mastercard, allowing the FinTech to issue Mastercard corporate cards to its small to medium-sized business (SMB) users and launch operations in beta. The firm offers SMBs a corporate card with integrated spend management aimed to help businesses adjust to widespread remote working and digitization.

Float Raises Seed Funding For Canadian Business Cards

Based in Canada, Float is introducing corporate card technology onto the market with integrated spend management features that negates the need for small businesses to provide a personal guarantee in order to obtain a business card. Reports in BetaKit said the company raised $5 million in seed funding led by Susa Ventures and Goldman Ventures while Tiny Capital, Garage Capital and Global Founders Capital also participated. The company plans to focus on growth and hiring with the funding.

Coast Secures Investment For Fleet Cards

While the commercial card market has enjoyed significant innovation, less disruption has been seen in the fleet card arena specifically. One FinTech, Coast, wants to change that, and has just announced $6 million in seed funding for its offering. The firm provides fleet cars and fleet spend management solutions with integrated visibility and security designed for a mobile workforce. Investors at Better Tomorrow Ventures, Avid Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, BoxGroup, Colle, Foundation Capital, Greycroft and SciFi VC, as well as angel investors, all participated.

Finstro Introduces Its US Corporate Card

Finstro, a FinTech targeting the B2B commerce market with trade and credit services, is rolling out its offering in the U.S. with a commercial card product aimed at facilitating supplier payments. Coupled with application programming interface (API) integrations, the card and spend data can be integrated into existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, the firm said. According to CEO Brad Prout, the corporate card can be an effective way to strengthen the buyer-supplier relationship as more B2B suppliers look to digitize and provide greater flexibility with trade credit terms for their business customers.

Plate IQ Extends Cards To 1-800Accountant Clients

In a new collaboration to expand its reach, corporate card startup Plate IQ has announced a partnership with 1-800Accountant, which will offer its own corporate customers access to Plate IQ card products. 1-800Accountant provides SMBs with tax and accounting services. By extending Plate IQ cards to its customers, SMBs will have access to a broader range of financial management solutions through the card’s expense management platform designed to boost spend control and transparency.