Fyle Inc. is launching of a real-time spend management solution for customers using corporate and small business cards in the US, starting with Visa. Fyle will be one of the first spend management platforms to offer direct, and real-time transaction feeds to users of any Visa-powered credit card, with direct secure enrollment from the cardholder.
Small businesses are the backbone of the US economy, with more than 6 million small businesses in the US. They use business credit cards as a crucial tool in their cash management function, yet the experience of managing and accounting for card spend remains manual because of outdated technology from issuing banks.
To tackle this, new spend management startups are issuing their own corporate cards, bypassing the banks. Benefits include real-time visibility, end-user notifications, and cash control. However, these fintechs require minimum cash balances, ranging from $25,000 to 250,000 (USD). These cards are primarily charge cards that don't support any balance rollover, shortening the credit period to a day or month.
Focusing on tech-savvy and funded startups is a great acquisition strategy, but it addresses a tiny market. Card-led fintech accounts for less than 10% of the overall $1.5 trillion commercial card spend in the US, while more than 90% of this spend happens on cards issued by leading banks.
This is where Fyle differs. Instead of asking customers to switch to another business card, Fyle integrates with their existing business credit cards to give them a real-time spend management experience. The instantaneous data from card feeds and receipts are combined and made ready for accounting, vastly reducing manual work for spenders, Finance teams and accounting firms.
Bruce Phillips, Partner and Managing Director of Aprio's Outsourcing Practice, says he is excited to see where the partnership heads. “Together, we will remove insufficiencies and manual work from expense management for businesses, enabling access to enhanced spending data and prompt closing of their books." Aprio's Outsourcing Practice is ranked 35th on Accounting Today's Top 100 Firms.
The implications are significant. While SMBs get sophisticated AI-enabled spend management software and the freedom to choose their own business credit card, Fyle can offer their product to any business credit card without being dependent on the bank's tech stack. This offers unique collaboration opportunities to comarket the solution to banks' business customers.
Fyle is initially launching this solution for the Visa network and will support other networks over the next few quarters.
Small businesses are the backbone of the US economy, with more than 6 million small businesses in the US.
Kevin Permenter, Research Director for Financial Applications at IDC, says the integration with Fyle enables its users the opportunity to utilize their own business cards in support of business spend management initiatives. “Fyle's 'bring your own card' approach has the potential to provide real-time insights, visibility and control to the millions of small businesses that use business and corporate cards as cash management tools."
The real-time feed reduces manual effort for employees and accountants alike. Employees can turn in receipts from everyday apps like text messages, Gmail, Outlook, MS Teams, and Slack, and on the go via Fyle's iOS and Android mobile apps. Fyle's AI-enabled engine instantly codes spend information, assigns it to the right projects and cost centers, and pushes the data to cloud-first ERP and accounting software like NetSuite, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks Online or Xero.
The launch enables it to offer all customers who have Visa business credit cards access to powerful, AI-driven software to track & manage their card spending. It also gives Fyle the opportunity to collaborate with card issuers who are losing business to new-age corporate card products. For the first time ever, customers will not have to switch their credit cards to get the best spend management experience.
Learn more about Fyle's real-time spend management HERE. Fyle also runs an exclusive partner program for Accounting firms. To learn more about the program, CLICK HERE.
Yashwanth Madhusudan is the co-founder and CEO of Fyle. He has a passion for product/market development and solving problems that have a large-scale business impact. Yashwanth has an extensive background in customer/user experience and has excelled in both enterprise & solution sales working for global MNCs & early to mid-stage venture-backed startups across the world. He started Fyle along with his co-founder in 2016 with the goal of building a new standard for expense management that’s fit for this generation.
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