Payments FinTech Crezco has raised £9.6 million in Series A funding and integrated its technology into accountancy platform Xero.
The London firm says it uses open banking to make B2B invoice and bill payments as convenient as B2C card payments.
The solution will allow small businesses to simply and securely manage, approve and pay their bills without leaving Xero’s platform.
The funding comes from MMC Ventures and 13books Capital.
“A2A (account-to-account) payments allows Crezco’s partners to move the point of payment from the bank to their platform,” said Ralph Rogge, founder and CEO. “This is not just a domestic transfer solution. We connect real-time payments everywhere and it’s one of the most obvious examples of embedded payments.”
While there are many payment successes in B2C eCommerce and B2C point-of-sale, B2B payments remains a larger and less addressed market.
The potential growth opportunities have been recognised by Crezco’s new investors. “The agreement between Xero and Crezco is a great opportunity for open banking to address SME payments in the UK and, over time, internationally,” said Oliver Richards, partner at MMC.
“It’s a transformational moment for the company and we’re excited to be backing Ralph and the team at this critical point in their growth.”
Michael McFadgen, partner and co-founder at 13books Capital, added: “While there are many exciting opportunities in the arena, it was Crezco’s continued focus on the SME and their payment challenges, domestic and international, that led to our investment.”