Make smarter decisions on the B2B payments market

B2B payments are consolidating fast, as bigger players buy the tools that small and mid-size firms use to pay their bills.

We've found a lot of interesting signals. For example, in October 2025, Xero completed its $2.5B purchase of Melio, a bill-pay platform for US small businesses. The same month, TPG and Corpay closed their $2.2B takeover of AvidXchange, which automates bill payments for mid-size firms, and took it off the stock market. Accounting software and payment companies want to own the point where a bill turns into a payment.

In this section, we look at why payments are moving into the software where bills get approved, which firms still pay by check, and what this wave of deals means for independent players.

Paying a supplier sounds simple. In practice, it means approvals by email, bank details typed by hand, late fees and invoices nobody can find.

We compare six types of B2B payment companies, from supplier payment and collections platforms to corporate cards, marketplace payouts and payment APIs. Their buyers range from small business owners to finance teams at large companies. Then we rank their biggest pains, like slow approvals, payment fraud, customers who pay late and cash stuck in transit.

This shows which problems finance teams will pay to fix now, and which ones they'll keep handling in a spreadsheet.

Software subscriptions, fees per payment, a share of card fees on virtual cards, currency margins and interest on money in transit: B2B payment companies make money in several ways.

We compare who pays and how much each model keeps. Virtual cards earn the most, but the supplier pays the card fee and may push back. Bank transfers cost little to send and earn little too. Subscriptions are steady but hard to raise. And money waiting to be paid out earns interest only while rates stay high.

You'll see which models keep their margins when suppliers refuse card fees or rates come down.

Growth numbers alone don't tell you much. So we look at what is pushing more business payments online.

The obvious drivers are instant payment rails, e-invoicing rules in more countries, and finance teams asked to do more with fewer people. Others reinforce each other. Once a company pays through a network, its suppliers join it too, which makes the next company easier to sign. Cleaner payment data makes it easier to offer financing. And every payment that moves online makes the remaining paper look slower.

Before building or investing, you should know what makes a finance team move its bills to a new platform, and what makes its suppliers follow.

Tipalti and American Express come up first when finance teams talk about paying suppliers, but B2B payments go much further.

Many interesting players work out of sight. Some only pay subcontractors for construction firms or vendors for property managers. Others turn paper checks into electronic payments, check supplier bank details before money leaves, or pay out sellers on online marketplaces.

They're hard to spot because many sell through banks, accounting software or ERPs, under someone else's name. And payment volume is easy to quote but says little about what a company actually keeps.

Below, you'll find the market grids and ecosystem maps we've built to show who sends, collects and settles business payments, and where newer players fit.

Bill, Billtrust, HighRadius… a few companies have built large businesses around getting invoices paid.

Bill helps small and mid-size firms pay suppliers and collect from customers in one place. Billtrust helps suppliers send invoices and get paid faster. HighRadius sells software that automates collections and cash forecasting for large companies. Each started with one side of the invoice, and none has found a model that fits every company.

We'll look at how these teams picked which side of the invoice to own, got suppliers to join, and kept customers once payments became a feature of every finance tool.