Startup Expend Intros SME FinTech Marketplace

London-based expense management startup Expend is introducing a FinTech marketplace to support small to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the company announced on Tuesday (Jan. 21).

The new marketplace was launched solely for Expend’s prepaid Mastercard users as well as non-card customers and is targeted to business owners and finance teams. It offers a curated inventory of hand-picked products to advance cash flow, human resources, finance and accounting.

Research shows that 46 percent of U.K. SMEs hit barriers when going after financing, often throwing a wrench in expansion plans, the announcement said. Some 64 percent of SME owners understate first-year business expenses.

Partners in the new marketplace include FreeAgent, Esme Loans, Market Finance, Iwoca, Tanda, VAT IT, Capitalise and Commuter Club. Expend customers will get exclusive discounts and longer free trials, and the marketplace complements established integration partners Xero and QuickBooks.

‘’We’re very excited to announce the launch of the Expend marketplace, designed to support our SME clients outside the world of expenses. Through strong partnerships with industry leaders, we are proud to provide our valued ‘Expenders’ with the tools they need to supercharge their businesses in 2020,” said Expend Head of Partnerships Kayley Hunter.

Expend is now welcoming participation from other “like-minded businesses” to apply for access to the new marketplace. There are also plans in the works for exclusive cardholder offers.

‘’Whether they need support with fast, flexible finance, or software to streamline the management of their day to day, our new hand-picked partnerships enable customers to maximize their potential through a seamless process within Expend,’’ Hunter said.

Expend was founded in 2014 by Johnny Vowles and Rudolph Graan. Its July equity crowdfunding round raised £1,330,000.

The business expense management software market is poised to be worth as much as $6.6 billion by 2025.

Most small businesses do not have robust processes in place and could be dependent on spreadsheets and paper receipts to track what’s spent, Farhan Ahmad, founder and CEO at B2B payments solution provider Bento for Business, said last month.