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:

  1. Charge card & expense management (see our list here)
  2. Bill payments and/or invoicing specialists (see below)
  3. Payment processors (here)
  4. Subscription management platforms (here)

Unlike other fintech areas, 6 of the top 7 providers are more than 10 years old.

Year founded:
2000 to 2009 >>> 7
2010 to 2014 >>> 6
2015 to 2019 >>> 6
2020 or later >>> 0

Small Business Billing Startup Spotlight

Bonsai |  HQ: San Francisco  |  Founded: 2016  |  Raised: $120,000+ (YC alum) |  Website traffic: 500,000/mo  |  Employees: 34  |  Linkedin followers: 1,930  |  Trustpilot score: 4.8 (210 reviews)

Apply Now

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 (17)| 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.


Top U.S. BillPay & Invoicing Startups (ranked by FAB score***)

Rank Was** Company/
(Parent)
FAB Score*** Reviewed Founded HQ Funding ($M)**** Visits (Sep ’22)
Ad* Bonsai 101 10 Nov ’22 2016 SF 0 500,000
1 1 Wave Payments (HR Block) 1505 10 Nov ’22 2009 Toronto 80 7,500,000
2 2 Freshbooks 987 10 Nov ’22 2003 Toronto 330 4,300,000
3 3 Bill.com 582 10 Nov ’22 2006 SF 496 2,600,000
4 4 AvidExchange 491 10 Nov ’22 2000 Charlotte, NC 1760 96,000
5 5 Tipalti 412 10 Nov ’22 2010 SF 565 1,200,000
6 6 Melio 324 10 Nov ’22 2018 NYC 504 600,000
7 8 Vcita 145 10 Nov ’22 2010 Seattle 15 740,000
8 NEW Bonsai 101 10 Nov ’22 2016 SF 0 500,000
9 10 Stampli 88 10 Nov ’22 2015 SF 85 290,000
10 9 Plastiq 85 10 Nov ’22 2012 SF 142 340,000
11 12 Autobooks 54 10 Nov ’22 2015 Detroit 97.8 64,000
12 13 PaySimple 44 10 Nov ’22 2006 Denver 145 160,000
13 7 Invoice2go (Bill.com) 42 10 Nov ’22 2002 SF 60 230,000
14 11 InvoiceNinja 35 10 Nov ’22 2014 Hefa, Israel 0 180,000
15 14 Routable 27 10 Nov ’22 2017 Seattle 46 41,000
16 15 Onlinecheckwriter 23 10 Nov ’22 2008 SF 2.7 150,000
17 (t) 16 BillerGenie 16 10 Nov ’22 2018 Miami 9.5 48,000
17 (t) 18 Emburse (ChromeRiver) 16 10 Nov ’22 2014 LA 0.1 87,000
19 17 Beanworks 4 10 Nov ’22 2012 Vancouver 12 26,000

Source: FintechLabs, 10 Nov 2022 using data from Crunchbase, SimilarWeb, SEMrush

* FintechLabs receives advertising and/or affiliate revenue from the company
**Rank on 5 Sep 2022
***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 Billpay & Invoicing Suppliers in the United States


1. Wave (acquired by H&R Block)
FAB Score = 1,505 (up 20 since Sep 2022)
– HQ: Toronto
– Founded: 2009
– Raised $79.8M (Crunchbase)
– Exit: Acquired by H&R Block for US$400M in June 2019
– Website visits: 7.5M (Sep 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 350 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 269 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin:  13,600 followers (341 employees)
iOS rating: 4.5 (5,500 reviews)
– Rating: 4.4 ( 1,300 reviews per Software Advice).

2. Freshbooks
FAB Score = 987
(up 23)
– HQ: Toronto
– Founded: 2003
– Raised $331M including $131M in 2021 and $125M in 2022 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 4.3M (Sep 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Mobile downloads past 30 days: 35,000 (Crunchbase)
– Employees: 723 (Linkedin)
– Articles: 599 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 85,500 followers (723 employees)
iOS rating: 4.7 (10,500 reviews)
SoftwareAdvice rating: 4.5 ( 3,870 reviews)

3. Bill.com (see also #13 Invoice2Go)
FAB Score = 582 (down 80)
– HQ: San Francisco Bay Area
– Founded: 2006
– Raised $496M including $216M in its Dec 2019 IPO (Crunchbase)
– Annual revenue (TTM): $750M (Yahoo)
– Market Cap: $12.6B (10 Nov 2022, NYSE:Bill)
– Website visits: 2.6M (Sep 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 2,270 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 155 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 36,100 followers (1,980 employees)
iOS rating: 4.9 (31,000 reviews)
Capterra: 4.2 (421 reviews)

4. AvidXchange
FAB Score = 490 (up 1)
– HQ: Charlotte, NC
– Founded: 2000
– Raised: $1.8B of which $660M was in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Market cap: $1.7B (10 Nov 2022); NASDAQ: AVDX
– Annual revenue: $299M (TTM) (Yahoo)
– Website visits: 96,000 (Sep 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 1,600 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 117 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin:  32,500 followers (1,501 employees)
G2 review:  4.4 (156 reviews)

5. Tipalti
FAB Score = 412 (up 20)
– HQ: San Francisco
– Founded: 2010
– Raised $565M including $270M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Valuation: $8.3B (based on Dec 2021 round)
– Website visits: 1.2M (Sep 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 1,070 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 186 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin:  30,000 followers (1,080 employees)
G2 rating: 4.4 (131 reviews)

6. Melio
FAB Score = 324 (up 14)
– HQ: NYC
– Founded: 2018
– Raised $504M including $360M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 600,000 (Sep 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 586 employees (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 59 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 19,900 followers (586 employees)
Capterra rating: 3.9 (178 reviews)

7. Vcita
FAB Score = 145 (down 25)
– HQ: Seattle area (Bellevue)
– Founded: 2010
– Raised $15M prior to 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 740,000 (Sep 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 172 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 20 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin:  7,400 followers (174 employees)
iOS rating: 3.6 (87 reviews)
Software Advice rating: 4.5 (201 reviews)

8. Bonsai
FAB Score = 101
– HQ: San Francisco
– Founded: 2016
– Raised: $120,000+
– Website traffic: 500,000 (Sep 2022, SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 34 (Pitchbook)
Linkedin followers: 1,930
Trustpilot score: 4.8 (210 reviews)

9. Stampli
FAB Score = 88 (up 12)
– HQ: San Francisco Bay Area (Mountain View)
– Founded: 2015
– Raised $84.7M including $50M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 290,000 (Sep 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees:  204 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 31 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 18,900 followers (203 employees)
G2 rating: 4.7 (465 reviews)

10. Plastiq
Fab score = 85
– Founded: 2012
– HQ: San Francisco
– Raised: $142 million including $75M in 2020 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 340,000 (Sep 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 173 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 61 (Crunchbase)
Linkedin: 5,700 followers (162 employees)
Trustpilot: 3.5 (939 reviews)

11. Autobooks
FAB Score = 54
– Founded: 2015
– HQ: Detroit, Michigan
– Raised: $97.8M including $25M in 2021 & $50M in 2022 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 64,000 (Sep 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 130 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 29 (Crunchbase)
Linkedin: 4,800 (129 employees)
FeaturedCustomers: 4.8 (377 reviews)

12. PaySimple (division of EverCommerce)
FAB Score = 44 (unchanged)
– HQ: Denver, Colorado
– Founded: 2006
– Raised $145M prior to 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 160,000 (Sep 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 2,200 at parent EverCommerce (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 42 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 4,100 followers (91 employees)
iOS rating: 4.0 (1 review)
Capterra rating: 4.5 (290 reviews)

13. Invoice2Go (acquired by Bill.com)
FAB Score = 42 (down 214)
– HQ: San Francisco
– Founded: 2002
– Raised $60M prior to 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Exit: Acquired by Bill.com for $625M in July 2021
– Website visits: 230,000 (Sep 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 106 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 91 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin:  8,700 followers (67 employees)
iOS rating: 4.8 (35,200 reviews)
Capterra rating: 4.3 (212 reviews)

14. InvoiceNinja
FAB Score = 35 (down 34)
– HQ: Hefa, Israel
– Founded: 20114
– Raised Unknown (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 180,000 (Sep 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 4 (Linkedin)
– Articles: 12 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 340 followers (4 employees)
iOS rating: 4.6 (24 reviews)
Software Advice rating: 4.8 (137 reviews)

15. Routable
FAB Score = 27 (down 9)
– HQ: Seattle
– Founded: 2017
– Raised $46M including $30M in 2021 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 41,000 (Sep 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 164 (Pitchbook)
– Articles: 11 (Crunchbase)
– Linkedin: 8,300 followers (162 employees)
FeaturedCustomers rating: 4.8 (217 reviews)

16. Online Check Writer
FAB score = 23
– Founded: 2008
– HQ: San Francisco
– Raised: $2.7M prior to 2020 (Crunchbase)
– Website visits: 150,000 (Sep 2022; SimilarWeb)
– Employees: 114 (Linkedin)
– Articles: 40 (Crunchbase)
Linkedin: 32,700 followers (114 employees)
Trustpilot: 4.8 (1,650 reviews)