B2B Payments Today: Speeding up Business Payments; New Money for Melio and Factors.ai

Today in B2B payments, Finexio is focused on improving cash flow for all involved and Melio might hit $4B valuation. Plus, Digital River’s client base spikes and Factors.AI builds its team with new funding.

Digital River Expands Services, Grows Client Base by 66% in Q2

Global commerce company Digital River had a new record of clients introduced in the second quarter, beating last year’s numbers by 66%, according to a press release emailed to PYMNTS.

Some of the new clients include software company Ahrefs; commercial sports and fitness company Core Health and Fitness; and Felco, which makes precision cutting and pruning tools. The company also expanded into new verticals and made its services available to more people, letting users access solutions for payments, taxes, compliance and fraud mitigation, according to the release.

Payables Departments Confront Need To Consumerize Business Payments

Businesses are seeing that just like in the consumer world, there’s a lot of convenience to be had by throwing paper checks in the waste bin and switching to instant, digital payments. Finexio Founder and CEO Ernest Rolfson said one of his customers in the healthcare space, for example, used to deal exclusively in checks, incurring costs of $7.50 to process each transaction prior to its technological upgrade.

Suppliers prefer automated digital payments too, mainly because they don’t need to send someone to collect those checks and get them cashed at the bank. Speed is another advantage, and the company has developed an accompanying supply chain finance product called Finexio Cash that helps small businesses get hold of their money faster for a fee.

SaaS Startup Factors.AI Raises $2M in Seed Funding

Software-as-a-service startup Factors.AI has raised $2 million in seed funding, the company announced Monday (Aug. 30). The U.S. and Bengaluru-based company will use the funds to hire additional talent and continue establishing itself.

Launched last March, Factors.AI uses its proprietary artificial intelligence engine to comb through customer data to find insights, helping its customers make better campaign decisions and improving the return on marketing investments.

Payments Startup Melio May Reach $4B Valuation With Latest Funding

Melio Payments is set to triple its valuation to $4 billion in a new funding round, The Information reported, citing three unnamed sources.

Melio works on developing software for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to pay suppliers with bank transfers or credit cards, according to the report. The size of the round was unknown, but it comes only eight months after the company’s last funding round. The new round is still open, and the valuation is subject to change, the report stated.