Cross River and Forward Team on Embedded Payments for SaaS Firms

Cross River Bank has formed a partnership with embedded payments company Forward.

The collaboration is designed to use embedded payments to address payment challenges the companies say are stunting the growth of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers.

“We are proud to join forces with Forward to offer payouts-as-service, a solution that caters to the unique financial requirements of SaaS providers,” Adam Goller, head of FinTech banking at Cross River, said in a Tuesday (Sept. 24) news release.

“This venture aligns with our commitment to driving safe and responsible innovation in the fintech space and supporting the growth of forward-thinking businesses.”

By providing SaaS platforms with embedded payment offerings like same-day ACH payouts, the companies say they are addressing the evolving needs of the SaaS sector, helping them boost revenue, improve customer experience and increase product stickiness.

“The companies will facilitate the growth of SaaS platforms and in turn, expand the embedded payment landscape,” per the release. “Forward selected Cross River to support its embedded payments and payouts-as-a-service offering for the Company’s proprietary API technology and innovative approach that enables faster payouts than traditional institutions.”

The partnership comes at a time when embedded payments — powered by credentials and token — are emerging as a key innovation in fostering frictionless transactions between B2B trading partners, as PYMNTS wrote last week.

“By embedding payments into the core of their digital infrastructure, businesses can create a seamless, end-to-end experience that supports not just payments, but all aspects of the B2B relationship — improving efficiency, security and collaboration across the board,” that report said.

And as businesses look for more efficient ways to manage payments and working capital, embedded finance is emerging as a transformative force in B2B commerce, Alan Koenigsberg, head of large, middle market, industry verticals and working capital solutions at Visa, told PYMNTS this summer.

Meanwhile, Forward recently raised $16 million in seed financing, money the company said would help meet demand for embedded payments and to apply artificial intelligence (AI) to the risk functions of payments.

“Most software companies get the technical part right, but fail to achieve their business goals,” Brandon Lloyd, founder and CEO of Forward, said in a news release. “We believe many software companies who have ‘integrated payments’ should be generating greater revenue from these products, and Forward is here to help them do that.”