Melio, founded in mid-2018, is the latest VC-funded entrant in the payables space.
Money and cash flow are the lifeblood of a small business. And it's an area often overlooked by traditional online banking providers. So a number of companies have emerged during the past decade-plus to better serve SMB needs. Most providers operate on a dual revenue model which includes:
a.) monthly subscription fees to create predictable recurring revenue
b.) transaction fees to cover interchange and other variable processing costs.
We divided the payment providers into four categories:
- Charge card and expense management (see our list here)
- Bill payments and/or invoicing specialists (see below)
- Payment processors (coming soon)
- Subscription management platforms (coming soon)
Unlike other fintech areas, the majority of the large players in SMB payments launched in the first decade of the 21st century:
Years since founding:
15 to 20 years >>> 5 startups
10 to 14 years >>> 3 startups
5 to 9 years >>> 3 startups
1 to 4 years >>> 4 startups
NEW: Looking for digital banks, lenders, payment providers, insurance or digital accounting for small businesses? Check out our latest lists: SMB online lenders (33) | SMB challenger banks (12) | SMB insurers (15) | SMB charge cards/expense management (16) | Billpay & invoicing (16)| Payment processors (7) | Subscription processors (7) | SMB digital accounting/bookkeeping (21)
The FAB Score Ranking (Fintech Attention Barometer) is a proxy for the size of a private fintech company.
Table: Top U.S. BillPay & Invoicing Startups (ranked by FAB score*)
| Rank | Company | FAB Score* | Review | Founded | HQ | Total Funding | Visits (Nov 21) |
| 1 | Wave Payments (HR Block) | 863 | 7 Dec 2021 | 2009 | Toronto | 80 | 6,870,000 |
| 2 | Freshbooks | 599 | 7 Dec 2021 | 2003 | Toronto | 205 | 4,290,000 |
| 3 | AvidXchange | 449 | 7 Dec 2021 | 2000 | Charlotte, NC | 1,760 | 90,000 |
| 4 | Bill.com | 368 | 7 Dec 2021 | 2006 | SF | 496 | 2,570,000 |
| 5 | Tipalti | 260 | 7 Dec 2021 | 2010 | SF | 565 | 770,000 |
| 6 | Melio | 258 | 7 Dec 2021 | 2018 | NYC | 504 | 460,000 |
| 7 | Invoice2go (Bill.com) | 162 | 7 Dec 2021 | 2002 | SF | 60 | 1,340,000 |
| 8 | Vcita | 131 | 7 Dec 2021 | 2010 | Seattle | 15 | 1,070,000 |
| 9 | Rho | 111 | 1 Dec 2021 | 2018 | NYC | $205 | 53,000 |
| 10 | Airbase | 44 | 1 Dec 2021 | 2017 | SF | 90.5 | 63,000 |
| 11 | InvoiceNinja | 44 | 7 Dec 2021 | 2014 | Hefa, Israel | 0 | 350,000 |
| 12 | Stampli | 39 | 7 Dec 2021 | 2015 | SF | 85 | 70,000 |
| 13 | PaySimple | 31 | 7 Dec 2021 | 2006 | Denver | 145 | 180,000 |
| 14 | Routable | 30 | 7 Dec 2021 | 2017 | Seattle | 46 | 80,000 |
| 15 | Beanworks | 0 | 7 Dec 2021 | 2012 | Vancouver | 0 | 8,800 |
Source: FintechLabs, 13 Dec 2021 using data from Crunchbase, SimilarWeb, SEMrush
*As nerds do, we are developing a proprietary score measuring the adoption of digital financial services at private companies that do not release traditional metrics (# customers, deposits, AUM, etc). We call it the FAB score, standing for Fintech Attention Barometer. The score uses money raised, valuation and website traffic as a proxy for company size and velocity of growth. It’s a work in progress, so expect changes down the road.
**Funding is the amount invested into the company as either equity or debt.
Challenger Payment Providers in the United States
1. Wave (acquired by H&R Block)
FAB Score = 863
– HQ: Toronto
– Founded: 2009
– Raised $79.8M (Crunchbase)
– Exit: Acquired by H&R Block for US$400M in June 2019
– Website visits: 6.9M (Nov 2021; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 291 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 223 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 11,000 followers (306 employees)
– Twitter: 18,900 followers
– Rating: 4.5 ( 1,122 reviews per Software Advice).
2. Freshbooks
FAB Score = 599
– HQ: Toronto
– Founded: 2003
– Raised $205M including $74M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 4.3M (Nov 2021; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 558 (Linkedin)
– Articles: 593 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 62,000 followers (558 employees)
– Twitter: 30,700 followers
– SoftwareAdvice rating: 4.5 ( 3,530 reviews)
3. Bill.com (see also #7 Invoice2Go)
FAB Score = 368
– HQ: San Francisco Bay Area
– Founded: 2006
– Raised $496M including $216M in its Dec 2019 IPO (Crunchbase)
– Annual revenue (TTM): $308M (Yahoo)
– Market Cap: $26B (12 Dec 2021, NYSE:Bill)
– Website visits: 2.6M (Nov 2021; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 1,380 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 129 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 27,400 followers (1,125 employees)
– Twitter: 17,400 followers
– Capterra: 4.2 (371 reviews)
4. AvidXchange
FAB Score = 449
– HQ: Charlotte, NC
– Founded: 2000
– Raised: $1.8B of which $660M was in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Market cap: $3.2B (13 Dec 2021); NASDAQ: AVDX
– Annual revenue: $232M (TTM) (Yahoo)
– Website visits: 90,000 (Nov 2021; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 1,500 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 104 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 26,400 followers (1,289 employees)
– Twitter: 2,720 followers
– G2 review: 4.4 (126 reviews)
5. Tipalti
FAB Score = 260
– HQ: San Francisco
– Founded: 2010
– Raised $565M including $270M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Valuation: $8.3B (based on Dec 2021 round)
– Website visits: 770,000 (Nov 2021; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 720 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 159 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 19,700 followers (707 employees)
– Twitter: 1,770 followers
– G2 rating: 4.3 (95 reviews)
6. Melio
FAB Score = 258
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2018
– Raised $504M including $360M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 460,000 (Nov 2021; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 420 employees (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 41 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 12,100 followers (454 employess)
– Twitter: 5,500 followers
– Capterra rating: 3.8 (70 reviews)
7. Invoice2Go (acquired by Bill.com)
FAB Score = 162
– HQ: San Francisco
– Founded: 2002
– Raised $60M prior to 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Exit: Acquired by Bill.com for $625M in July 2021
– Website visits: 1.3M (Nov 2021; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 106 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 91 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 7,500 followers (92 employees)
– Twitter: 4,800 followers
– Capterra rating: 4.1 (131 reviews)
8. Vcita
FAB Score = 131
– HQ: Seattle area (Bellevue)
– Founded: 2010
– Raised $15M prior to 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 1.1M (Nov 2021; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 172 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 19 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 3,900 followers (174 employees)
– Twitter: 1,840 followers
– Software Advice rating: 4.5 (196 reviews)
9. Rho
FAB Score = 111
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2018
– Raised $205M including $200M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits (Nov 2021): 53,000 (SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 60 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 20 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 2,000 followers
– Twitter: 770 followers
– Trustpilot: No reviews
10 (tie). Airbase
FAB Score = 44
– HQ: SF
– Founded: 2017
– Raised $90.5M including $60M in last 12 months (Crunchbase)
– Website visits (Nov 2021): 63,000 (SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 181 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 20 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 30,000 followers
– Twitter: 630 followers
– G2: 4.8 (217 reviews)
10 (tie). InvoiceNinja
FAB Score = 44
– HQ: Hefa, Israel
– Founded: 20
– Raised Unknown (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 350,000 (Nov 2021; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: Unknown
– Articles: 12 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 187 followers (4 employees)
– Twitter: 1,800 followers
– Software Advice rating: 4.8 (122 reviews)
12. Stampli
FAB Score = 39
– HQ: San Francisco Bay Area (Mountain View)
– Founded: 2015
– Raised $84.7M including $50M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 70,000 (Nov 2021; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 120 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 28 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 14,400 followers (145 employees)
– Twitter: 10,200 followers
– G2 rating: 4.8 (221 reviews)
13. PaySimple (division of EverCommerce)
FAB Score = 31
– HQ: Denver, Colorado
– Founded: 2006
– Raised $145M prior to 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 180,000 (Nov 2021; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 1,750 at parent EverCommerce (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 42 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 3,800 followers (94 employees)
– Twitter: 2,400 followers
– Capterra rating: 4.5 (290 reviews)
14. Routable
FAB Score = 30
– HQ: Seattle
– Founded: 2017
– Raised $46M including $30M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 80,000 (Nov 2021; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 55 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 6 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 6,100 followers (114 employees)
– Twitter: 380 followers
– FeaturedCustomers rating: 4.8 ( reviews)
