Today In B2B: Mastercard Pairs With Emburse; Entersekt CFO Talks Finance’s Privileged Position

Today in B2B payments, Mastercard teams up with Emburse, and Entersekt’s CFO discusses the privileged position of the finance team. Plus, CDC Small Business Finance talks “financial deserts,” Next Insurance raises $250 million and Airbase launches an expense reimbursement solution.

Mastercard Augments Cards With Emburse Spend Management

Rethinking The Flow Of SMB Capital Into Underserved Financial Deserts

Whether the result of the lack of financial institution (FI) presence or inadequate underwriting capabilities among the FIs that do exist in these communities, underbanked small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are being failed by the traditional efforts to address these capital gaps. That’s according to Robert Villarreal, executive vice president of CDC Small Business Finance and president of the Small Business Finance Fund (Bankers Small Business CDC of California).

Entersekt CFO Celebrates Privileged Position Of Finance Team

Next Insurance Notches $250 Million For SMB Insurance Tech

InsurTech firm Next Insurance has landed a $250 million infusion in a round headed up by Battery Ventures and FinTLV Ventures. The round also saw the involvement of G Squared, Founders Circle, Zeev Ventures, Group 11 and CapitalG, according to a Wednesday (March 31) announcement. The round provided the firm with a $4 billion valuation. In all, Next Insurance’s funding has exceeded $880 million, according to the announcement.

Airbase Adds Expense-Reimbursement Tool

Airbase, which calls itself a “comprehensive spend management platform for small and midsize companies,” has added an employee expense-reimbursement tool. The San Francisco-based company positioned the new product alongside two existing offerings — “a fully automated accounts payable system and software-enabled corporate cards,” a Wednesday (March 31) news release stated.