Capital One, Wells Back B2B ePayments Startup

Some of the biggest names in banking participated in the Series E funding round for digital billing and payments company Transactis, a SaaS startup that aims to help corporations reduce their dependence on paper invoices, bills and other documents in favor of digital payments solutions.

Capital One, Wells Fargo, Fifth Third, PNC and TD, along with Safeguard Scientifics, each contributed equally to the $30 million investment round, announced on Sunday (April 17), bringing Transactis’ total funding up to $70 million.

“Businesses of all sizes rely on their banks to provide secure, innovative billing and payment services,” Transactis Chairman and CEO Joe Proto said in a statement announcing the funding. “We are so proud to serve the most progressive banks in the payment industry and even more proud that Capital One, Fifth Third, PNC, TD and Wells Fargo are more than customers; they’re also now our investors.”

The company cited 2015 Blueflame Consulting research that found just one-quarter of the 25 billion corporate bills produced every year in the U.S. are electronic.

In an effort to increase the digitization of B2B billing and payments, Transactis provides financial institutions with software that allows corporate customers to switch to electronic billing, accounting and payments processes.

Each investor offered its own statement following the announcement of the backing.

Wells Fargo Head of Treasury Management Danny Peltz cited the need for the bank to stay ahead of the curve in providing corporate clients with better payment processing solutions.

PNC Executive Vice President for Treasury Management James G. Graham said the backing was “an opportunity to influence the future of electronic bill presentment” for companies.

Capital One Executive Vice President Colleen Taylor, meanwhile, cited the “rapidly changing” payments and FinTech sector as its motivation behind supporting the startup. TD Head of Corporate Products and Services Rick Burke cited the ongoing dependence on paper among corporates, as did Fifth Third Head of Payments and Commerce Solutions Randy Koporc.