Beyond financial services: innovators enabling B2B payments

  Pioneering fintech businesses are proving that payments innovation need not be confined to the financial services sector. Thanks to clever use of SaaS, startups are enabling any entity that has a relationship with customers to offer flexible credit options. This is creating new revenue streams and generating greater loyalty in a range of B2B segments. One such innovator in this space is finmid, a new Marqeta International partner.

To find out more about how and why this exciting startup is at the forefront of the ‘payments everywhere’ trend, we asked Product Manager Frederick Schiffmann to explain finmid’s mission.

 
Tell us about the challenge or opportunity that finmid is addressing.

  We’re here to empower SaaS and B2B and B2C marketplaces with an arsenal of flexible financing solutions for their customers. These include custom net payment terms, frictionless access to capital, and corporate credit cards tailored to their needs. Our partners are based throughout Europe and we can support multiple currency options. finmid’s solutions are most relevant to SMEs that seek to optimise their cash flow. Companies look for fast, seamless and affordable access to capital but traditional lending institutions often struggle to match the pace of the digital world, as their processes are often lagging and their understanding of unique SME industries is limited. At finmid, we're challenging that status quo by offering rapid, integrated and cost-effective capital access solutions.

 
How is finmid positioning itself in the market and what would you say are its key differentiators?

 
We’re all about unlocking the full potential of financial exchanges and flows among ERP and business management SaaS providers and B2B and B2C marketplaces - by embedding lending into existing financial flows. This philosophy is attracting new customers to these platforms, expanding their user base, setting them apart from their competition and boosting their overall revenue. One of our key strengths is our ability to craft solutions tailored to the specific needs of each platform via API and white-label solutions. Whether it involves customising features, adapting workflows or integrating seamlessly with existing systems, we believe we add value by addressing partners’ unique challenges and amplifying their strengths.

 
Where did you start and how were your partners selected?

  We choose to collaborate with partners who are keen to break new ground in their industries. This is aided by the fact that our development process is streamlined and efficient, arguably as a direct result of the clear, concise documentation provided by Marqeta. The partnership with Marqeta has also empowered our Product and Technology Team to seamlessly design and implement the logic needed to support our customers' use cases within the Marqeta framework. In turn, it’s paved the way for superior user experiences and accelerated solution delivery.

 
What was your process for building a use case and related product offering?

  We identified that two formidable challenges exist for SME’s: cash-flow optimisation and access to tailored capital. But fintech-enabled platforms can uniquely seize this opportunity to create meaningful change. Fuelled by this knowledge we began to develop solutions that would bring direct and immediate benefits to SMEs and platforms, offering competitive pricing while ensuring zero risk to our customers. Our journey began with introducing a credit card product, a gateway to rapid access credit lines for a broad audience of SMEs.

  Next, we extended our support to B2B marketplaces through our B2B Payments product. Focussing on traditional industries, we merged the user-centricity of buy-now-pay-later models with the large ticket sizes necessitated by B2B marketplaces and the global demand for factoring. This product equips B2B marketplaces with the capacity to offer their buyers flexible net payment terms while providing their sellers with instant payments. As a result, large and commoditized transactions can now happen via central marketplaces at the click of a button, all while enhancing sellers' cash flow.

  We’ve also implemented our Capital product in collaboration with B2C marketplaces and vertical SaaS companies to advance receivables based on the cash flow that companies generate on the platform. Harnessing platform data for pre-approved offers, we can provide a unique zero-drop-off guarantee, ensuring a best-in-class experience for platform users. Additionally, we enable SMEs to refine their funding offer by giving data about extra revenue streams. This information allows us to allocate higher limits than the industry standard practice of reassessing the same revenues every 30 days. We’re committed to continually evolving and improving our solutions.

What are finmid’s headline value propositions? We have seven value propositions that we communicate to our target partners:

And these are proving very effective. Our partners tell us they love being able to offer pre-approved financing offers, as it provides their customers with access to the liquidity they need for their businesses to flourish.

  To find out more about finmid, visit the company website here.