This article appeared in VB and discusses Paystand, a 2014 startup based in the San Francisco area that specializes in modernizing B2B payments. In this case, the company received a $20 million funding round from multiple investors with the intent to expand its customer base around a blockchain platform.
‘Paystand has raised $20 million to modernize commercial payments using its blockchain-based platform and make paying a corporate bill as easy as making a consumer payment with a mobile app. The Scotts Valley, California-based company will use the money to accelerate expansion of its products and services and grow its team.’
We have been discussing BCT as a means of improving trade services through smart contracts and supply chain tracking, along with cross-border payments experiences. While a bit short on retails (and we have not had a chance to get a detailed briefing on how it works), this seems to be a domestic payments model – so far.
Even so, one assumes its translatable and the article indicates is multi-currency, mostly about bringing the elements of cash cycle processes into a BCT platform that promotes convergence. This is a theme we have noticed for a couple of years now.
‘“It’s like Venmo for complicated transactions for commerce,” Almond said. “We are rebooting the financial infrastructure because a lot of it was built pre-internet. It holds companies back. We’re coming in with a new business model, doing payments-as-a-service.”…Paystand also automates the payment experience from invoice to reconciliation and integrates seamlessly with a company’s system of record. And it provides a real-time, fund-verified, blockchain-assured payment network that can move money between businesses instantly.’
There is no mention of cryptocurrency, which is normally in the same sentence when discussing BCT payments (typically cross-border, however). So we’ll have to learn more. The non-transactional business model uses subscriptions, which seems to be resonating based on some of the growth Paystand shows. One thing for certain, the promise of massive processing cost reductions should turn some heads.
“We enable the infrastructure between companies to use what they call smart contracts. We pay you on these terms. How do you ensure that happens? Blockchain infrastructure is good for that kind of thing,” Almond said. “We have pioneered assurity-as-a-service, which is our view of [what] the scaled commercial blockchain looks like.”
Overview by Steve Murphy, Director, Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
