Today in B2B: Apis Invests in DT One; Adflex Adds Click to Pay in Mastercard Collaboration Expansion

Today in B2B payments, Apis invests in DT One, while Adflex expands its partnership with Mastercard. Plus, Quark.ai debuts an autonomous B2B eCommerce support platform, and half of the B2B invoices sent in the U.S. become overdue before they’re paid.

Apis Invests in B2B Micropayments Platform DT One

Private equity fund Apis Growth Fund II is investing in B2B digital micropayments platform DT One to help the Singapore-based company continue expanding into more countries and exploring new merger and acquisition (M&A) opportunities. DT One’s platform powers cross-border mobile micropayments in the form of additional airtime and data top-ups. The top-ups are added to prepaid phones in more than 160 countries and can be used by mobile phone customers for gaming pins and gift cards.

Adflex Expands Mastercard Tie-up, Offers Click to Pay to Merchants

B2B payments specialist Adflex is expanding its partnership with Mastercard by offering Click to Pay to its merchants, who can now use the platform to simplify eCommerce transactions, encourage faster payments, improve supplier-buyer relations and reduce the risk of fraud. Click to Pay employs two-factor authentication to make sure transactions comply with strong customer authentication (SCA) regulations.

Quark.ai Launches Autonomous B2B eCommerce Support After Fortune 500 Pilot

Autonomous customer/field support platform Quark.ai has launched its autonomous support platform for B2B eCommerce after completing a pilot program of the offering with a Fortune 500 company that sells millions of high-tech products online. Quark.ai Autonomous B2B eCommerce Support provides accurate product information to potential buyers by automatically interpreting their inquiries, both as a physical customer support agent and through its chatbot.

Half of US Businesses’ Invoices Become Overdue

Forty-nine percent of the invoices produced by businesses in the United States go on to become overdue, as reported in the “AP Automation Tracker,” a PYMNTS and Beanworks collaboration. Late invoice payments have become widespread during the pandemic as businesses face economic struggles, reduced cash flows and other complications. The costs of these delays and errors are leading many businesses to develop or purchase advanced technological solutions to fix them. Some of the most promising solutions leverage artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) or some other form of automated software, both to reduce the incidence of complications and to address those that arise.

Buried B2B Payments Shortcuts Often Hiding in Plain Sight

Jennifer Petty, managing director, treasury product at Bank of America, told PYMNTS in an interview that getting rid of paper checks has become an increasingly important goal for commercial clients. About 8 in 10 professionals see digital transactions as critical to growing their firms’ top lines, she said. Increasingly, the bank’s customers have been putting data innovations to use in real-life interactions. Companies that tend to be short-staffed — particularly in accounts payable (AP) and procurement — benefit when a bank reaches out proactively to help them leverage existing rails for streamlining payments.

Balance Sheet Management Pressures Push 75% of CFOs to Digitize Payments

PYMNTS’ data show that 74% of companies said the switch to digital payments during the pandemic improved their management of working capital, and 73% said their data security improved because of their recently digitized platforms. Companies also reported that their operating efficiency improved, and costs fell. These are a few of the findings PYMNTS uncovered in “Business Payments Digitization: The Fast Track to Payments Systems Upgrades,” a collaboration with Corcentric.