Sometimes the Genie, once released, cannot be put back into the bottle. With the purchase of Divvy by Bill.com, the Expense and Payment Management spaces are experiencing such a moment. With unicorn valuations for Ramp, Marqeta, Brex, Divvy, and other disruptors in the space, the notion of stand-alone credit cards and stand-alone Expense Reporting solutions is an idea that is having a “Kodak Moment” of sorts. The Genie of innovation has been released and the market is valuing this innovation with an eye towards its enormous potential.
The world of Fintech in general is “on fire” but this space particularly is seeing growth and deal-flow in an unprecedented fashion. With advances in Cloud and Applications technology and increasing complexity in organizations, the need for integrated and interoperable spend and payment applications is profound. Point solutions- no matter how good they are at solving specific problems, often create others; platforms are needed to connect systems and workloads to create a truly connected experience for organizations and consumers alike.
In the Expense and Payments Management spaces, the odium and minutiae of traditional methods has been universally acknowledged. The use of either stand-alone or personal cards for T&E, Fleet Management, WFH-driven expenses, or any other “corporate task” is fraught with difficulty. Spending employees are disconnected and often in a position of antagonism with F&A and the CFO. A siloed and ungoverned approach to Expense and Payments Management has created a universally reviled and error-prone part of corporate life.
But the Genie is out of the bottle and the market is recognizing that a new wave of companies is solving these problems natively. The last batch of fintech disruptors, Square, Stripe etc. were on the acquiring side, this time the baton has been handed off to the issuing side. Market-makers and influencers are investing billions of dollars in this burgeoning space that is indelibly changed by technology and a shift in the culture of spending and payments that marks the modern organization.
At Zact, we hail these changes- out of respect for the industry and out of a clear and abiding knowledge that the platform we’ve built will be able to effectively and efficiently serve customers in this brave new world of Spend and Payments Management.
