Payments company emerges from stealth with 5.5 million in seed funding from Lightspeed, Stripe, Affirm and PayPal co-founder Max Levchin of SciFi VC, Y-Combinator and UpWest
Balance today officially launched the industry’s first self-serve digital checkout platform to transform the online payments experience for B2B companies. Leveraging state-of-the-art payments and risk-assessment technology, any merchant, marketplace or SaaS company that sells goods and services online and offline can now offer their buyers a wide array of payment methods and terms, and get paid instantly — all in a single platform.
“B2B online payments, and E-commerce specifically, far outpace their counterparts in B2C. Yet, the digital experience lags behind, creating missed opportunities for growth,” said Bar Geron, CEO and co-founder, Balance. “Most online business purchases today are made via credit card, while transactions via the preferred methods for most businesses — like wires, checks, and ACH — remain offline. This is because the process is incredibly challenging, often involving offline quotes and invoices, multiple phone calls and emails, and long payment delays. Balance manages all of this complexity behind an elegant checkout experience and makes offering flexible payments methods and terms as easy as using a credit card.”
Read More:SGX and Temasek JV Ties Up with Covalent to Build End-to-End Digital Infrastructure
Bar continues, “We initially set our sights on offline businesses looking to make the shift to digital, but quickly realized that even tech companies with self-serve products and services wanted a way to offer their customers flexible payments and terms. We’re excited at the early momentum we’re seeing, and this round of financing will help us accelerate product innovation and adoption of the Balance platform worldwide.”
Primary features and benefits of the Balance platform include:
- Consumer-Grade Business Checkout: Offers buyers a business payment experience that is as convenient as consumer checkout.
- Automatic Collection, Reconciliation and Settlement: Offer buyers the ability to pay by check, bank wire, credit card or ACH, and receive one consolidated payout from the Balance platform.
- Instant, Automated Financing: Offers buyers flexible terms, with instant payouts.
- Vendor Payout Control: Offers support for B2B marketplaces, service and software companies to onboard and payout vendors automatically.
- Developer Ready: Offers Robust APIs to enrich the payments toolkit with B2B-specific payment capabilities.
Driving Balance’s progress and success to date is $5.5 million in seed funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Stripe, Affirm and PayPal co-founder Max Levchin of SciFi VC, Y-Combinator and UpWest.
“I am pleased that my partners at SciFi have chosen to support Balance as Bar and his team prepare to accelerate their go-to-market efforts. Excited for what their innovative digital checkout platform will bring to the B2B payments space,” said Max Levchin, co-founder of Affirm and PayPal, and partner in SciFi VC.
“With B2B commerce on the rise, the need for a modern digital checkout is becoming increasingly urgent,” said Tal Morgenstern, Partner, Lightspeed. “Looking at their unique background and the progress they made, we know they are poised to bridge this gap and become the de facto standard in B2B payments. We’re thrilled to welcome them to the Lightspeed family and look forward to playing a role in their growth in the coming years.”
Read More:Interest-Free Repayments Remain Zip’s Biggest Draw
