2024 Will Be the Year of B2B for Fintechs (and Brands They Serve) 

Fintech Trends at Money 20/20

Walking around in Las Vegas, there were many of the usual themes at the expo – digital transformation and automation, cross-border, eCommerce (and gaming commerce!), mobile payments and how data analytics and AI is going to change the game. Yet, beyond the banners and booths, in the side meetings and conversations I had with other attendees and sponsors, there were also three topics that stood out: 

• The need to expand/build more channels/diversify revenue streams 
• The need to watch cash flow (it’s harder to raise money – heard this from more than one vendor) 
• The need to figure out this whole business-to-business thing 

Of course, since we announced our Financial Partner Gateway the week before the show, I may have been listening more than usual for these signals. But if you zoom out beyond the tastefully decorated walls of the Venetian, it’s clear that many fintechs and brands are at a crossroads in terms of their focus and strategies. More specifically, they are looking to grow their business via new channels, services and markets, while also looking to better drive efficiencies by automating financing, billing and invoicing.  

Helping Brands Meet Buyer Demand

Helping TreviPay’s B2B clients both grow and automate their A/R processes is core to our value proposition. With our new suite of APIs for banks and financial institutions, these partners can white-label our platform and gain access to our buyer onboarding, payment options, global invoicing and support service. Which helps banks grow their commercial services and revenue and automate A/R for their business clients. 

The demand on the buyer side is certainly there. Our new research conducted with Murphy Research shows that 72% of business buyers are more loyal to a business that offers their preferred payment methods, and 78% claim it’s necessary for merchants to offer invoicing. Providing payment choice, convenience and customization has never been more important. If you wish to serve the brands that are now increasingly fixated on assisting and growing their best business customers.  

But this idea is not a new one! 

B2B is the New Old Thing in Fintech

As I’ve discussed with our friends at Open Banking Expo Unplugged, we know the worlds of B2B and B2C continue to blur, especially when it comes to the checkout experience and embracing new technology like mobile payment, AI and e-invoicing. As a result, fintechs and brands that have mostly been consumer-focused are (re)discovering the opportunities in business-to-business commerce. The opportunity is huge – only a small percent of overall B2B transactions are paid on a card today. Much of the balance is still old-school, highly manual and not the greatest experience for buyers or sellers (or the finance and sales teams that support them). 

So, it totally makes sense that B2B is the “new-old thing” in the fintech ecosystem. B2B commerce is as old as business itself, but it trails consumer commerce when it comes to tech adoption and modern buying motions – for the most part. But today there seems to be new urgency among sellers and their tech providers when it comes to B2B payments and all the stuff that happens before and after the transaction. In fact, of the many discussions I had at Money 20/20, two of our partners and several other visitors to our booth specifically mentioned that B2B was a top initiative for them (“a big bet”) in 2024. 

Market Changes Require New Strategies

But we also know B2B is way more complex than B2C. Diverse buying groups, onboarding, online risk and fraud, purchasing processes and spend controls, custom pricing, rebates, tax considerations, invoice management and reconciliation – the list of B2B needs is ever-expanding and core to the TreviPay tech stack. As Brandon Spear, our CEO, noted in the podcast he recorded with Breaking Banks at Money 20/20, “The world has gotten smaller, but has also gotten more complex. Which is why we are an interesting partner.” 

For sellers, buyers and the fintechs and banks that support them, it’s time to shine the spotlight on B2B strategy and key initiatives heading into 2024. Specifically, for fintechs and brands looking to stand out from their consumer-focused peers, there’s a huge opportunity, an enterprise software and services ecosystem to tap and lots of case studies to explore and apply.