Today, Plastiq, a rapidly growing Kleiner Perkins-backed fintech for Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs), announced the launch of its next generation product - Plastiq Pay.
Plastiq Pay helps SMBs improve their cash flow at a time when inflation is threatening their very survival, saves teams precious time otherwise spent manually managing vendor payments, and connects SMBs instantly to affordable working capital. A new companion mobile app rounds out the offering, enabling SMBs to run their business finances on the go.
Recent surveys of Plastiq SMB customers showed 88% are experiencing a negative impact to the bottom line as a result of inflation, while 50% are looking for access to more capital in daily operations. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 50% of small businesses do not survive past their fifth year due to cash flow problems. The new Plastiq Pay product gives SMBs a competitive edge that can help them thrive in a rapidly changing landscape by automating every aspect of invoice receipt, payment approval routing, submission, and bill reconciliation.
"With inflation reaching its highest point in a generation, cash flow is an ever increasing worry for all businesses," said Stoyan Kenderov, Chief Operating Officer at Plastiq. "Plastiq Pay represents the biggest update to our product offering since our founding. It solves the mismatch of how businesses and suppliers want to make and receive payments by digitizing back office processes and providing instant access to short term financing to make money flow easier. It is the result of more than a decade of working with SMBs to help solve their biggest challenges and friction points."
New capabilities announced today by Plastiq include the following:
Invoice data capture: Forward invoices by email for fast and simple bill creation. The new AI-powered data capture extracts vendors and payment details and automatically creates bills for you to make paying bills pain-free.
Team workflows: Built-in support for bill routing, approvals, and compliance.
Automatic two-way sync: Enables full integration with QuickBooks Online, Xero, and Sage Intacct for automatic data import and reconciliation of transactions paid in Plastiq. Integrations to Oracle Netsuite and Freshbooks are forthcoming.
Cash flow dashboard: Provides a view into cash flow with the ability to see all card and bank account balances at a glance. The dashboard highlights actionable information such as payments due, approvals required, and payment method recommendations.
Short term financing: Instantly extends funding options even when cash and credit are tight. In addition to paying almost every vendor via a credit card, businesses can now get an instant financing decision for their vendor payment allowing them to extend the term of a payment without the ordeal of applying for a bank loan.
Mobile app: Manage payables from anywhere and ensure revenue-dependent payments reach their destination on time with the Plastiq Pay app.
Plastiq customer Todd Smith, VP and Corporate Controller of Sunbasket, a full service meal delivery company, said, "When it comes to supplier payments, there were many challenges we needed to address - ad-hoc payments, flexibility, speed, automation, and even employee retention were all top of mind for us. As we cope with increased inflation rates, our vendors also want to be paid faster than ever; because their vendors are doing the same. Plastiq's multifaceted solution helps us free up time and automate our payables to focus the team on other business activities that need our attention."
According to Plastiq's Chief Financial Officer, Amir Jafari, "Plastiq's payment automation features are built for CFOs that want to upskill their teams, get people out of mundane and manual work, focus on more meaningful finance function optimization, and reduce cost with a more elegant, modern payables platform."
Plastiq customer Jason Rappaport, the Chief of Staff and General Counsel at UniversalStandard.com, a size inclusive apparel brand, described how Plastiq provides access to working capital to extend the time bills come to up to 60 days - "We pay overseas suppliers for inventory as well as heavy online advertising investment, so Plastiq helps us even out the cash peaks and troughs, which is particularly crucial while we deal with supply chain slowdowns."
Plastiq Pay comes in three different subscription plans to meet the needs of small businesses at every phase of growth.