Pleo Teams With Yapily to Power SMB Cash Flow

Automated expense management system Pleo is partnering with open banking application programming interface (API) startup Yapily to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) manage cash flow.

The collaboration between FinTech unicorn Pleo and Yapily will enable a simplified payments experience for U.K. users, according to a blog post on Thursday (Sept. 8).

Using Yapily Payments, Pleo customers can use their bank account to top up their Pleo account. Customers receive funds instantly, avoiding settlement times that average 48 hours.

“This partnership with Yapily is all about maximizing the benefits of open banking technology to enable frictionless user journeys. Manual processes, settlement periods, and bottlenecks in cash flow are all avoidable obstacles. We want to enable our users to focus on what really matters: growing their business and empowering their people,” said Pleo Chief Product Officer Olov Eriksson.

See also: SMBs Poised to Live Paycheck to Paycheck, Too, Amid Soaring Operating Costs

Since the two firms first started collaborating six months ago, Yapily has helped Pleo process over £10 million ($11.5 million) in open banking payments, according to the blog post. Thousands of businesses were able to get a better handle on their cash flow and tackle spend management challenges.

Yapily Founder and CEO Stefano Vaccino said partnering with Pleo aligns with Yapily’s mission to “improve the financial lives of millions of businesses and consumers through open banking” and “lifting some of the burden” of cost management and cash flow.

“Current market conditions mean that businesses in the U.K. and across Europe are looking for ways to better manage costs and increase cash flow now more than ever. I’m very much looking forward to continuing to work with the team at Pleo and helping them meet the evolving needs of their customers as they continue to expand across Europe,” Vaccino said.

Read more: More Control, Better Visibility Boost Biz Spend Management Outcomes

Pleo customers in the Netherlands and France will be the first European countries to have access to Yapily’s banking top-ups tool, which is being rolled out in the upcoming months, according to the post. Variable Recurring Payments are expected to be available in August.

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