Elite Acquires Tranch to Streamline Payments for Law Practices

Elite, a financial management service for law practices, has acquired B2B payments platform Tranch.

“At Elite, our focus is on providing law firms the SaaS solutions they need to lead their business into the future with confidence, and help them gain operational efficiencies, optimize resource allocation and improve expense management,” Elite CEO Mark Dorman said in Monday (Jan. 6) a news release.

“By embedding Tranch’s products within our portfolio of SaaS solutions, we will offer our customers greater choice and flexibility in managing their work-to-cash process, which will help law firms reduce payment delays, increase cashflows and, ultimately, boost profitability.”

Founded in 2021, Tranch’s electronic payment offerings include instant payment services via the FedNow service and Real-Time Payment Network and “Pay by Card,” including virtual card terminals for billing teams. The company also offers “Pay Later,” letting law firms spread their payments over time.

The platform’s invoice-to-payments experience, the release adds, “allows law firms to reduce their cash collection cycle and handle more work without proportional staff increases to its finance teams, enhancing profitability.”

Tranch CEO Philip Kelvin said law firms’ investments in financial technology have typically lagged, with his company’s data showing “significant inefficiencies” in the invoice-to-payment process.

“In 2024, Tranch more than tripled its payment volume with many of the largest global law firms, including Elite customers, to help facilitate easier and faster payments through automation and innovation,” Kelvin said. “We are excited to join Elite as we scale our capabilities further and continue our rapid, product-led innovation.”

In other B2B payments news, PYMNTS recently examined one of the obstacles to innovation in this field: the prevalence of paper checks.

“There’s a relatively unacceptably high level of check usage here in the United States,” Seamus Smith, executive vice president and group president at FIS, said during a discussion for “PYMNTS Outlook 2025: Navigating the Future of Banking and Payments,” stressing the risks of fraud and inefficiency that come with checks.

Rising technologies such as open banking and real-time account-to-account payments offer viable alternatives, Smith said, yet the industry needs to do more to articulate their advantages.

He predicted that businesses this year will more rapidly embrace electronic payment mechanisms, supported by innovations that combine data flows with financial transactions.

“Incorporating data into the money flow will provide significant improvements for businesses seeking to reduce their dependence on checks,” Smith told PYMNTS.

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