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 & expense management (see our list here)
- Bill payments and/or invoicing specialists (see below)
- Payment processors (here)
- 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: $120,000+ (YC alum) | Website traffic: 500,000/mo | Employees: 34 | Linkedin followers: 1,930 | Trustpilot score: 4.8 (210 reviews)
NEW: Looking for digital banks, lenders, payment providers, insurance or digital accounting for small businesses? Check out our latest lists: SMB online lenders (33) | SMB challenger banks (12) | SMB insurers (15) | SMB charge cards/expense management (16) | Billpay & invoicing (17)| Payment processors (7) | Subscription processors (7) | SMB digital accounting/bookkeeping (21)
The FAB Score Ranking (Fintech Attention Barometer) is a proxy for the size of a private fintech company.
Top U.S. BillPay & Invoicing Startups (ranked by FAB score***)
| Rank | Was** | Company/ (Parent) |
FAB Score*** | Reviewed | Founded | HQ | Funding ($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)
