This Week in B2B Innovation: Riding the Digital Payments Wave

The B2B landscape is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by a confluence of technological advancements, evolving business expectations, and the unrelenting push toward greater efficiency.

At the center of this change is the surging digitization of B2B payments, which are emerging as levers for innovation, competitiveness and growth as firms recognize that modernizing their payment processes is crucial not just for efficiency, but also for ensuring security, improving cash flow management and enabling real-time insights into financial operations.

That’s why PYMNTS tracks the latest advances shaping tomorrow’s B2B landscape. The top themes we heard this week were around access to capital, cross-border payments and marketplaces, and the broader digitization of legacy workflows across B2B payments and operations.

Digital Transformation’s Impact on Working Capital and Cash Flow Management

Managing working capital is a perennial challenge for firms, and digital solutions are now playing a role in easing this burden.

Among the news this week, Lama AI and Bridge partnered Wednesday (Aug. 21) to expand the availability of commercial loans. Financial institutions using Lama AI’s artificial intelligence-powered origination technology will be able to access Bridge’s marketplace that connects business owners and lenders.

Adyen and InvoiceASAP, an invoicing and payments firm, launched a small-business-focused instant payments partnership Wednesday that will provide users with instant access to deposited funds, while Efficient Capital Labs announced Wednesday it raised $11 million in Series A funding to expand its cross-border revenue-based financing offering for B2B Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies operating in the South Asia-U.S. corridor.

Elsewhere, Cumula 3 and Paystand partnered Wednesday to offer NetSuite users improved cash flow management, with Paystand’s B2B payment platform being integrated into Cumula 3’s portfolio of cloud-based solutions for NetSuite.

Embracing Next-Generation Security and Compliance

B2B digitization comes with the need for a new approach to security and compliance.

Banks using Treasury Prime’s embedded banking software can now use the risk and compliance solution from Kobalt Labs to better manage their third-party diligence with AI, the companies said Tuesday (Aug. 20).

Fraud prevention firm Mitek expanded a partnership Wednesday with payments processor Alogent. The collaboration will see Alogent integrate Mitek’s Check Fraud Defender into its Unify deposits automation solution to prevent the rising threat of check fraud.

Riding the Wave of Digital B2B Payments

For companies entrenched in traditional payment practices, the transition to a more digital payment ecosystem may seem daunting. However, the process can be approached strategically to minimize disruption and maximize benefits. PYMNTS shared three tips Monday (Aug. 19).

PYMNTS also unpacked how the turbulent global economy is forcing shippers, carriers and other transportation and logistics stakeholders to consider the impact that digital innovations like embedded finance can have across their supply chains, or risk falling behind as commerce and trade become increasingly data-driven, efficient and agile.

At the same time, cross-border eCommerce is increasingly reshaping B2B procurement.

Citi and Network International announced Monday that they formed a referral agreement in which Network will provide omnichannel payment acceptance solutions to the bank’s large enterprise customers across the Middle East and Africa.

Ongoing advances in digitization and automation are increasingly driving greater efficiency, accuracy and strategic insight for chief financial officers and other leaders.

The marketplace is also witnessing a wave of acquisitions aimed at consolidating and better positioning innovative solutions to unlock the further digital transformation of the finance function.

According to PYMNTS Intelligence’s study “Accounts Payable and Receivable Trends: What’s Next in Automation,” of the firms earning between $3.5 million and $15 million in annual revenue, only 5% of such mid-sized firms have fully completed the automation of all processes, and 15% have automated three or more tasks.

Nearly 44% have only automated one or two AP processes. More than one-third have not started any automation and are still anchored in paper and manual duties.

Paper checks have traditionally been tied to as many as half of all B2B payment transactions.

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