Visa announced today that it is partnering with Fundbox, an embedded working capital platform for small businesses, to strengthen Fundbox’s platform with the power of digital payments. The first step in this collaboration is the launch of the Fundbox Flex Visa Debit Card, issued by Pathward, N.A., which helps small business customers better manage their cash outflows.
In addition to the Fundbox Flex Card, Fundbox and Visa will work together in the coming months in an effort to introduce a series of new payment products, including a Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) solution for small businesses looking for flexible payment options when making purchases, and a push-to-card transfer option for instant fund disbursement through Visa Direct1, Visa’s real-time2 money movement network.
“Small businesses that embrace digital tools tend to be more resilient and better able to compete,” said Jack Forestell, Chief Product Officer, Visa. “As Visa continues to work towards digitally enabling 50 million small businesses by 2023, we’re excited to be teaming up with Fundbox to bring a range of new, digital offerings to the market from cards to installments to disbursement.”
Fundbox Flex Pay is a spend management solution that helps business owners manage payables while providing flexibility around how and when to fund expenses. Fundbox has seen significant growth and quick adoption of the product, and reports payment volume increasing over 80% quarter-over-quarter, and the median active customer using it over five times a month. The Fundbox Flex Visa Debit Card brings the power of Flex Pay to card-accepting merchants, enabling convenient payments for expenses like travel, supplies and incidentals.
The strong performance of Fundbox Flex Pay has contributed to the growth of Fundbox’s working capital platform. Combined with their approach of embedding within their customers’ systems and workflows, and the increasing desire for people to build their own businesses, Fundbox has crossed over $160 million in annual revenue run rate.
“We’ve seen our working capital solutions become more embedded within our customers’ cash flow cycles as small businesses adopt digital payments to drive growth and operational efficiency,” said Prashant Fuloria, CEO of Fundbox. “In order to accelerate the flow of funds to our customers, it’s critical for us to continue enhancing our core payment capabilities, and our partnership with Visa is a significant step towards that vision.”
With the latest U.S. Census data showing a record 5.4 million new business applications were submitted last year, small business owners are increasingly turning to digital payments as a means to help them grow and thrive. According to Visa’s Global Back to Business Study, 73% of small businesses surveyed see accepting new forms of payments as fundamental to their business growth, and 59% said they already are, or plan to, use only digital payments within the next two years.
Chintan is the Founder and Editor of Loyalty & Customers.
