Visa Ready Program For B2B Payments Grows With Extend

The Visa Ready Program for Business Solutions is growing with the addition of the Extend platform into its offering.

In a press release Tuesday (Dec. 18), Extend said it is integrating its card issuing capabilities into the Visa Ready program, a framework for businesses that adopt Visa B2B payments solutions, enabling companies to more seamlessly access additional financial tools like accounts payable automation, virtual card functionality, data analytics and more.

Extend operates the Extend app, a way for businesses to issue commercial cards to employees and contractors that need to make purchases while on the job. The solution lets businesses track employee and contractor spend in real time, the firm noted, pointing to the accelerating growth of the freelance market as another key demographic for which the app can be used.

The company also offers a suite of APIs for other FinTechs to integrate banks’ virtual card solutions into their own offerings.

Both will be available for businesses that are part of Visa Ready following completion of the integration, Extend said.

“Extend redefines the way commercial credit cards are issued and used for business expenses,” said Extend CTO and Co-founder Danny Morrow in a statement. “Businesses are looking for ways to empower their staff and enhance their products and operations with modern payment capabilities that don’t rely on plastic cards.”

“The commercial payments ecosystem is going through an incredible transformation, with innovative solutions coming to market rapidly,” said Taira Hall, Visa‘s vice president of partnerships and new initiatives, in another statement. “Adding Extend to the program will complement our existing Visa Ready for Business Solutions partners and B2B payment solutions available to financial institutions and their clients.”

Visa first launched its Visa Ready Program for Business Solutions last year with a range of partners, including Bottomline Technologies, CSI globalVCard and Bora Payment Solutions. Visa has also recently rolled out the Billtrust Business Payments Network, another B2B payments platform developed with Billtrust.