This article has been contributed by Ajay Adiseshann, Founder MD & CEO, PayMate.
Not long ago, B2B payments were a herculean task—paper checks, endless invoices, and back office systems that felt like they belonged in the 19th century. It was all about “paying and getting paid.” Fast forward to today—the landscape has transformed dramatically. Digital payments aren’t just a convenience anymore—they’re a strategic necessity.
While consumer digital payments grab all the attention, B2B transactions are quietly undergoing a revolution of their own. Automated B2B payments are giving businesses—especially SMEs— better visibility and control over their working capital. Financial institutions are also benefiting, using data to derive insights and tailor financial products, bringing more businesses into the formal economy. The result? Smoother transactions, faster access to credit, and a more efficient financial system for businesses of all sizes.
Why Digital B2B Payments Are a Game-Changer
Despite rapid growth, many small businesses across India and the world are still tied to old school payment methods. That’s a massive untapped opportunity. According to a report, India’s B2B payments market is expected to surge from USD 7.6-8.0 trillion in 2022 to remarkable $200 billion market opportunity by 2030. The key to unlocking this potential? Businesses must embrace digitization in their accounts receivables and payables. Doing so will boost efficiency, improve liquidity, and future-proof their financial operations.
Let’s explore the key factors shaping the future of B2B payments and why they matter.
SMEs have historically been overlooked by traditional financial systems. But as independent players in a competitive world, SMEs need technology to take over their repetitive daily tasks, allowing them to focus on crucial aspects such as business growth and innovation. This is where digital payments come into play. By automating transactions and reducing manual paperwork, digital payments empower businesses to redirect their time and energy toward strategic priorities, fostering creativity and long-term success.
Additionally, digital payments are bridging the gap between small businesses and large enterprises by reducing payment cycles, offering real-time cash flow insights, streamlining operations, and providing digital tools that help smaller businesses compete more effectively. This, in turn, benefits SMEs, as better documentation and cash flow visibility make banks more willing to extend credit. With access to capital, these businesses can innovate, grow rapidly, and contribute even more to India’s overall economic growth.
2. The Push for Digital Transformation
What B2B payments lacked earlier – Speed, transparency, and efficiency—digital B2B payments are delivering all 3 on just few clicks, making it easier for businesses to track their spends and manage their cash flow in a better way. The real-time cashflow visibility help businesses make smarter financial decisions.
For banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions, the data from digital payments is gold as it provides them with insights that help them understand their consumers better. It enables them to create tailored financial products such as better credit offerings, personalized loan packages, working capital solutions, varied insurance products, and more that better serve businesses, fostering a more inclusive as well as dynamic financial ecosystem.
3. Innovative platforms like Bharat Connect Are Bridging the Gap
To bridge the digital divide in more structured manner, the government and other authorities have ramped up their efforts by showing support for the infrastructural development. For example, last year in August, at the 5th Global Fintech Fest (GFF) organised by multiple governmental authorities and Payment Council of India, Former RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das introduced Bharat Connect, a game-changing platform by NPCI Bharat BillPay.
It’s designed to make invoice cycle smoother, reduce inefficiencies, and facilitate secure transactions for businesses and consumers. Platforms like this are reshaping B2B payments, helping SMEs access faster payments, transparent receivables, and better financing options.
These platforms don’t just improve individual businesses—they create a networked economy where growth opportunities multiply. By centralizing various payment types, Bharat Connect enhances transaction efficiency and financial inclusion, benefiting consumers and businesses alike.
4. The Bigger Economic Picture
When businesses accept that digital is the future, the benefits go beyond their balance sheets. Faster and transparent transactions improve supply chain efficiency and bring more businesses into the formal economy creating a positive ripple effect that fosters trust, encourages innovation, and drives economic growth.
The outcome? A stronger as well as more inclusive financial system that empowers small businesses, supports governments, and benefits society. By reducing cash dependency and fake currency problems as well as increasing accessibility, digital payments pave the way for a fairer, more connected economy where thriving becomes possible for everyone.
So, what are the new trends driving the transformation?
• Real-Time Payments & Tracking: Faster fund transfers mean better cash flow with an ability to take faster financial decisions. This is especially crucial for cash-crunched SMEs.
• API Integration: This helps in creating a seamless connected world of financial systems such as ERP, accounting software, etc. that automates workflows and eliminates inefficiencies.
• Data-Driven Decisions: A crucial role is played by analytical data sourced from the systems that help businesses optimize payment cycles, track spending patterns, and forecast financial needs.
• AI & Blockchain Powered Payment Solutions: These advanced technologies are not only cutting down manual work and fraud risks but also improving efficiency, security, and enhancing trust in overall B2B payments ecosystem.
• Financial Inclusion: Digital platforms are bringing more businesses into the formal fold and reducing the digital gap between businesses – right from SMEs to large enterprises, ensuring all have access to essential financial services.
The Bottom Line
B2B payments have gone beyond just transactions. Businesses that embrace digital future will gain a competitive edge and unlock new growth opportunities that will positively impact India’s economy. With government-backed initiatives like Bharat Connect, the next phase of B2B payments will not only strengthen small businesses but also contribute towards a thriving, interconnected digital economy that fosters innovation, resilience, and long-term prosperity.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Plaid.
The way in which people pay for their day-to-day purchases is changing drastically. We’re approaching a new era where using digital wallets for payment is the mainstream option. Account-based payments are at the heart of this change as more money moves online and more consumers use financial applications and services. Plaid acts as a middleman for your private bank account and the financial mobile apps you use.
In general, users are required to link their bank accounts to utilize the fintech platforms, enable the applications to evaluate financial statements and be able to deposit and withdraw money. The issue has historically been that each bank has a unique, complicated existing system that necessitates app developers to create unique links for every one of them, which may also lead to several security issues. By providing an intermediary connection layer, Plaid addresses this issue by providing a safer way for people to connect their financial accounts to an app.
In 2013, Zach Perret and William Hockey established the American financial services business Plaid. The main offering is a platform that lets customers link their bank accounts to different fintech firms. Customers may connect well-known financial technology apps to their conventional bank accounts using Plaid’s network service programming interface. The company’s platform accesses financial transactions and individual data from large numbers of financial companies, validating and validating it in real-time while enabling clients and companies to use financial technology apps to communicate with their bank accounts, inspect balances, and transfer money.
The Plaid technology platform provides the resources and access required to create a financial system with digital capabilities. Plaid thinks that its platform makes it simpler and safer for developers to create financial services and apps. In the beginning, Plaid offered an API to help developers link customers and financial institutions. Since then, they have used a variety of data analytics technologies in conjunction with their access to data to give further actionable insights.
How Plaid Works
Over 11,000 financial institutions in the US, Canada, and Europe are connected with Plaid. It’s simple to link your bank account to Plaid:
Step 1: You can choose your banking institution from a list when you sign up for an app supported by Plaid. Put in your username and password next.
Step 2: Plaid encrypts the information you’ve decided to share (such as your account balance) and securely sends it to the app you wish to use in a couple of seconds. Your username and password are never shared between the platform and the app.
Step 3: A safe, continuing connection between the app and your bank is being built by the firm in the background.
Plaid – Industry
The term “financial services” refers to the monetary services provided by the banking sector, which comprises a wide range of companies that balance a budget, which includes credit unions, financial institutions, individual asset managers, card companies, insurance providers, accounting firms, consumer finance firms, brokerage firms, investment funds, and some govt-sponsored entities. Several other businesses that depend on credit and loans to function are supported by financial services. Despite mixed findings, the majority of estimates place the financial services industry at 20–25% of the global GDP.
With a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.7%, the worldwide financial services market increased from $23,319.52 billion in 2021 to $25,588.3 billion in 2022. At least temporarily, the Russia-Ukraine conflict hampered the possibilities of a COVID-19 pandemic-related global economic rebound. Economic sanctions on many nations, a rise in commodity prices, and disruptions in the supply chain as a result of the conflict between these two nations have all had an impact on several markets throughout the world. At a CAGR of 6.9%, the financial services industry is anticipated to reach $33,358.77 billion in 2026.
Plaid – Founders, and Team
Plaid was started in 2012 by Zachary Perret (CEO) and William Hockey in San Francisco, California.
William Hockey & Zachary Perret
Zachary Perret
As Plaid’s co-founder and CEO, Zachary Perret leads the company. He formerly had a consultant position at Bain. He attended Duke University to complete his undergraduate studies.
William Hockey
Plaid’s co-founder, William Hockey also cofounded a company named Column. He was formerly an Associate with Bain & Company. William Hockey attended Emory University for his bachelor’s degree.
Some other team members include :
Helen Min – Head of Marketing
Jean-Denis Greze – Chief Technology Officer
Pouya Fatemi – Head of Business Operations & Finance
Paul Williamson – Head of Sales
Eric Sager – COO
Luke Miner – Head of Data Science
Plaid – Startup Story
Zachary Perret and William Hockey, the founders, really got to know one another while interning at the titan of consulting, Bain & Associates. They clicked right away and started experimenting with other entrepreneurial concepts they may eventually pursue.
They first decided to create a platform for managing and recommending customer finances. Unfortunately, it turned out to be much more difficult than anticipated.
They had to create unique connections with each bank to connect to the financial accounts of the customers they planned to serve. Some of those possible banking partners were still utilizing technology from the 1950s, which complicated matters further (such as COBOL).
The couple saw right away the challenges even the most basic traditional banking system posed. Initially, the internet was not taken into consideration while designing banking; instead, branch-based consumer contact was emphasized. Today, the average user interacts with their bank accounts through more than 15 web applications. Consequently, the team realized that for people to realize the potential of their financial identities fully, the financial services industry needed to be revolutionized.
Plaid started as a consumer app company and invested around six months in creating card-linked financial management software. For instance, Plaid’s restaurant suggestion service used the user’s past spending information to suggest new restaurants. The items were made to persuade customers to cut back on their spending. Then they stopped and wondered if they needed an app that advised users to cut back on their spending. In no way. The company came to the same conclusion after working with a Venmo client. As a result, Plaid changed its direction and is now working to provide a genuinely straightforward and interoperable infrastructure for the financial sector.
Plaid was finally able to obtain its first round of investment as more and more clients were added. Spark Capital and several other investors invested $2.8 million in the business in September 2013.
With the additional funds, Plaid was able to relocate its corporate headquarters from New York to San Francisco, where it had access to a far larger number of software engineers and FinTech firms who were eager to work with it.
In the following three years, Plaid mainly avoided the spotlight and concentrated primarily on enhancing its service and gaining new customers. That changed when it revealed a massive $44 million round headed by Goldman Sachs in June 2016.
Plaid – Name, Logo, and Tagline
Plaid’s tagline says, “The safer way for people to connect financial accounts to an app”
Plaid – Mission, and Vision Statement
Plaid’s mission statement says,
“Plaid is focused on democratizing financial services through technology. We build beautiful consumer experiences, developer-friendly infrastructure, and intelligent tools that give everyone the ability to create amazing products that solve big problems.”
Plaid – Products
With Plaid’s collection of APIs, developers can create fantastic financial solutions with ease.
Assets – Asset and Account Owner Verification API for Underwriting
Auth – Instant bank account verification
Balance – Verify bank account balance
Identity – Verify users’ identities
Identity Verification – Global IDV to ensure KYC compliance
Income – Income and Employment Verification API
Investments – Retrieve liabilities and loan data
Monitor – Easy AML and PEP Compliance
Signal – ACH Risk Assessment and scoring API
Transactions – Access transaction data
Plaid – Business Model
With Plaid’s freemium business model, customers may utilize all of its services for free. With the free plan, potential customers may connect to 100 bank accounts and evaluate sample data in a sandbox environment.
For extra capability, there are two premium subscription plans available. Before we get into these alternatives, it is crucial to realize that the company’s pricing strategy is not meant to pressure a prospect into choosing from a menu of plans. Instead, the strategy permits a brand-new user to become acclimated to the free platform before upgrading to a personal account that is catered to their requirements.
In light of it, the following are the paid programs:
Launch: Users may authorize accounts, track transactions, and view account balances with Launch, a pay-as-you-go option. The price information is available upon request.
Scale: Prices for this more specialized service start at $500 per month and include bulk pricing, specialist premium support, and integration assistance. Customers who sign up for this package get full access to user data about their financial investments, obligations, and possessions. For example, this data may be employed to decide whether to approve or reject a loan application.
Costs per request: Plaid charges a certain amount for each request. The user must ensure that the receiving account has enough funds, to begin with if their financial app allows account transfers. To enable the transfer and generate revenue for the app company, Plaid will review the member’s account.
Following the consumer’s selection of a paid plan, the following costs could be assessed:
One-time fees: Fees are assessed for services that must be completed just once. For instance, a one-time fee must be paid each time a personal financial app accepts a user account and verifies their identity.
Membership dues: The same personal finance program would also like to know how its customers are spending their money. The company does this by utilizing Plaid’s real-time account balance monitoring tool. Because this is a frequent action, the expense is charged as a recurring subscription cost. Plaid gives volume discounts and assesses a per-connection, per-month fee for this service.
Plaid – Funding, and Investors
Date
Round
Amount
Lead Investors
Aug 25, 2021
Series D
–
–
Aug 17, 2021
Series D
–
JP Morgan Private Capital and AmEx
Apr 7, 2021
Series D
$425M
Altimeter Capital
Dec 11, 2018
Series C
$250M
Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins
Jun 19, 2016
Series B
$44M
Goldman Sachs Investment Partners
Nov 15, 2014
Series A
$12.5M
New Enterprise Associates, Spark Capital
Sep 19, 2013
Seed Round
$2.8M
Spark Capital
Plaid – Investments
Date
Organization Name
Round
Amount
Jun 8, 2022
Codat
Series C
$100M
May 4, 2022
Sensible Weather
Series A
$12M
Plaid – Acquisitions
Acquiree Name
About Acquiree
Date
Amount
Cognito
Cognito develops an identity verification and compliance platform for businesses.
Jan 20, 2022
$250M
Flannel
Flannel renders brand marketing, corporate identity, graphic design, communication, application development and web services.
Jun 15, 2021
–
Quovo
Quovo provides account aggregation and data analytics technology for finance.
Jan 8, 2019
–
Plaid – Competitors
The top competitors of Plaid are :
Codat
Stripe Connect
MX
Lightico
Envestnet Yodlee
Flinks
IntSig OCR Solutions
TrueLayer
Plaid – Challenges Faced
Zach Perret, the company’s founder, claims that paper is their greatest opponent and that digitizing data is their biggest challenge. The first line of defense is the availability of precise and understandable data. Analytics and other value-added services will now be the focal point of the conflict. As a result, Plaid gave data engineers priority before giving data scientists any thought.
If there is anything, it is stated that security will be the entity that keeps Plaid’s employees up at night. Data security and privacy are essential since they are in charge of millions of people’s financial information. In order to accomplish this, Plaid incorporates a tiny infrastructure element into each application, which collects user credentials and tokenizes them on the user’s device. By sending this tokenized data via its system, it then makes sure that the original data is not made public. You can never stop thinking excessively about security, according to the designer.
Plaid – Future Plans
Plaid set a target last year to dedicate 75% of our traffic to APIs by the end of 2021. One of the company’s major aims is to provide fair, dependable, and secure API-based data sharing as the sector accelerates its transition to a completely digital financial system.
The recent partnerships between Plaid and other companies show the industry’s commitment to building a better ecosystem that allows users more control and choice over where and how their information is shared across digital tools. With projects like Plaid Portal, a tool (now in beta) that allows users to examine and manage their account connections, helping to guarantee that they retain control over where their data is shared, innovation will continue in this area.
In significant ways, Plaid is assisting the industry in meeting this historically high level of consumer demand for digital banking. First, Plaid can integrate to provide more dependable data connectivity on behalf of the company’s shared customers and the developers constructing its network for banks with the capacity to implement an API-based data interchange. The sector must continue to adopt cutting-edge digital solutions that provide customers easy access to their financial information so they may better manage their daily lives as the globe gets closer to an open finance future.
FAQs
Who is the CEO of Plaid?
Zach Perret is CEO of Plaid.
Where is the Headquarters of Plaid?
The headquarters of Plaid is in San Francisco, California.
B2B stands for Business to Business and when there is a transaction of any product or service between two business firms it is said to be a B2B transaction. Payment in such a transaction might be in the form of money or any other kind. This means that it can be a transaction that is quite regular like buying a product or service using money as a means of payment or it can be in the form of barter exchange as well. In barter exchange, two firms can render their services or products to each other instead of paying money.
In the case of monetary transactions, the payment method is quite different from how consumers pay the firms. There is a good deal of difference between the payment method of B2C and B2B transactions. Generally, when there is a B2B transaction, orders are placed in bulk whereas, B2C transactions are rather made in smaller batches since they are for direct consumption. In B2C transactions, there is also the provision of discounts and offers which is usually not present in B2B transactions. Hence, the mode of payment also requires some special alterations when a business is paying a business.
Such transactions required a lot of effort in the earlier times but with the advent of payment startups, the entire process of transactions has become extremely convenient for businesses. These startups are designed to provide technological solutions for a secure and seamless payment experience for businesses. They make use of several apps and widgets that make financial transactions hassle-free at people’s fingertips. Some of the popular startups that support B2B payments in India include BharatPe, EnKash, Airpay, Udaan, etc.
In today’s time, B2B transactions have become more convenient and secure due to the presence of many payment startups. The following are some of the most popular B2B payment startups in India:
BharatPe
BharatPe – B2B Payments Startup in India
BharatPe is a B2B fintech company that focuses on helping small to mid-scale business owners accept payments through all the UPI applications using a single BharatPe QR code. The startup also offers loans to merchants. It was founded by Bhavik Koladiya, Ashneer Grover, and Shashvat Nakrani, in the year 2018 and is headquartered in New Delhi. BharatPe has recently partnered with NBFCs for a program called the “12% Club”. This program shall provide a chance to consumers to invest in BharatPe and earn interest up to 12% without the presence of any lock-in period. Also, consumers can borrow money at the interest rate of 12%.
EnKash
EnKash – B2B Payments Startup in India
It is a B2B payment management and financial assistance platform. This application enables a company to check their cash flow management, and invoices, and most importantly track payments to suppliers or from consumers. It also helps to connect vendors, corporates, and credit givers easily. The company was founded in the year 2016 by Hemant Vishnoi. In, 2020, SBM Bank, YAP, RuPay, and EnKash joined hands to launch the most full-scale business credit card ever, the SBM EnKash RuPay business card.
Airpay
Airpay – B2B Payments Startup in India
This is another popular B2B payment startup in India that helps retail and eCommerce companies to collect contact-less payments easily. Airpay was founded by Amit Kapoor, Kunal Jhunjhunwala, and Rohan Deshpande in the year 2012. The company has its headquarters in Mumbai. The payment platform renders services like net banking, digital payments, mobile POS, payment gateway, contactless payments, financial inclusion, open banking, and financial services.
Udaan
Udaan – B2B Payments Startup in India
Udaan is one of the largest B2B platforms for businesses in India. It was founded in the year 2016 by Vaibhav Gupta, Sujeet Kumar, and Amod Malviya. The startup has its headquarters in Bangalore. It operates in fields like staples, electronics, FMGC, lifestyle, home and kitchen, fruits and vegetables, pharma, and more. The platform helps farmers, small brands, and manufacturers to sell their products to retailers and customers with guaranteed safety and transparency. It helps make the buying and selling process easy with secure payments and smooth logistics.
The name of the startup is pretty evidently derived from the accounting term G-Invoicing. Ginvoicing is a company based in Ludhiana and was founded in the year 2017 by Tarun Jangra. It is a platform that allows you to manage your business easily and more effectively. The platform is meant to solve all your GST-related hassles. It helps collect online payments, accounting, inventory management, collating sales, marketing, purchase data, and more.
Benow
Benow – B2B Payments Startup in India
Another popular B2B payment startup in India is Benow. It was founded by Sudhakar Ram and Soorraj VS in the year 2016. Benow is a platform that specializes in payments and retail space. The startup was formed to promote digital payments and to empower small and medium-scale businesses, brands, and NGOs. It also enables users to get bundle products, EMI, credit points, and much more. The platform is highly focused on Buy Now Pay Later model.
Bulk MRO
Bulk MRO – B2B Payments Startup in India
Another popular name on the list of B2B payment startups in India is Bulk MRO. It is a global supply chain finance platform incorporated in the year 2015, in Mumbai by Gaurang Shah and Devang Shah. Bulk MRO is a trustworthy name in supplying industrial products and emergency goods. It is a B2B platform that helps government healthcare networks and corporations in their operations not only in India but around the globe.
It is a gaming platform founded in the year 2016 in Gurgaon by Akshat Rathee. Initially, NovaPlay was used to pay money for buying games. However, now it has also introduced B2B payment processing services.
Conclusion
Business to Business payments used to be a complex process but with the advancement of technology, many startups have emerged that have made it more convenient and secure. The above-mentioned are some of the most known B2B payment startups in India that are revolutionizing the way transactions used to be made earlier.
FAQs
What is a B2B startup?
B2B startups are also known as enterprise startups. Such startups sell products or services to other businesses rather than or in addition to the individual consumers.
How do I receive a B2B payment?
The following are the ways to make and receive B2B payments:
Checks
Credit cards
ACH transfers
Electronic fund transfers
Online payment platforms
Which are some popular B2B payment startups in India?
Some of the most popular B2B payment startups in India are:
Pratyusha Srivastava
