Loeb NYC is a startup lab and early-stage private investor built on the belief that aligning the right people with the right ideas creates successful companies. They are entrepreneurs, strategic partners, mentors, and industry experts who have launched and scaled enduring companies across industries utilizing proven strategies and techniques.

Loeb.nyc

Florida Funders is a Florida-focused Venture Capital Firm and Angel Investor syndicate with over 1,500 members. Led by successful entrepreneurs and seasoned investors, it partners with its portfolio companies to set them up for success. Its team scours the state of Florida to find the best early-stage ventures across all industries. It blends the best of equity crowdfunding, angel investing, and venture capital to generate strong returns for its investors while supporting the next generation of the Sunshine States' most promising entrepreneurs.

Florida Funders

Mobile Financial Partners focuses on businesses that use AI-driven technologies and cloud resources. The company looks for possibilities where convergent technological breakthroughs can upset corporate conventions. With strong partnerships and extensive knowledge in communications, finance, and software, MFP works hands-on to capitalize on these opportunities for its clients and partners.

Mobile Financial Partners

Medalist Partners provides investment management services. The company offers structural credit and asset management services. It manages capital primarily on behalf of institutional investors including pensions, endowments, foundations, family offices, and high net worth individuals. The company was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in New York.

Medalist Partners

Alpine Meridian is a NYC-based early stage venture firm focused on the Internet, digital media, fintech, data, software, and e-commerce.

Alpine Meridian

Stormbreaker is an early stage fund focused on capital-efficient startups. We believe in a future where venture capital is more equitable, more efficient, and more genuine. We see an opportunity within venture capital to be a true partner to our founders, not just a check that bides time until the next round. Stormbreaker is industry-agnostic and focused on startups that don’t see capital as an immediate requirement for growth, but instead as the best path forward for their business at the right time. We partner with the high-velocity, high-conviction companies that stand out from their peers because they are driven to build efficiently––companies that prioritize disciplined decision making and market traction over chasing stepped up valuations.  When we make investments, we are committed to our companies for their lifespan. We become trusted and preferred partners to our entrepreneurs, which allows us to take a hands-on approach to growth.

Stormbreaker Ventures

Post Road is a privately held real estate investment and advisory company focused on debt and equity investments, asset management, and strategic transaction advice. They also concentrated on originating new loans, such as entire, bridge, b-notes, and mezzanine, to aid in the acquisition or recapitalization of real estate.

Post Road Partners

JP Morgan is a financial institution. It offers asset management, commercial banking, investment banking, merchant services, securities services, treasury and payments, and wealth management services.

JP Morgan

Mendon Venture Partners is a venture capital investment firm focused on the intersection of innovative technology and traditional banks.

Mendon Venture Partners

Discover provides banking and credit products that help people achieve their goals—from establishing good credit to paying for a college education to consolidating debt. In payments, their networks connect banks, cardmembers, and merchants with innovative commerce solutions.

Discover

Patriot Financial Partners is a private equity firm focused on investing in community banks, thrifts, and financial services.

Patriot Financial Partners

Banc Funds is a private equity firm that invests in small financial service companies. The firm seeks to invest in companies such as commercial banks, savings and loan associations, regional investment banks, regional stock brokerage companies, and specialty brokerage and finance. It is all about making a difference, whether it’s funding the goals of a small financial organization or the research that could lead to a life-changing cure for millions of people. The biggest way in which they give back to communities all over the country is by funding the small financial companies that are the lifeblood of their local communities. These banks with whom they partner often draw strength from the communities of which they are a part, but they also give back. They make commercial loans and provide other financial services to some of the smallest businesses in the United States.

The Banc Funds

Trog Hawley Capital is a single-family office that aims to identify companies with outstanding founders and management teams and provide them with capital and strategic support.  Trog Hawley Capital adopts a long-term investment strategy, which enables them to align with founders and support them in realizing their vision. They invest across various stages of a company's growth, ranging from seed to pre-IPO. The company has a diverse portfolio that spans different industries, including big data, cybersecurity, e-commerce, energy infrastructure, enterprise, fintech, gaming/esports, and health tech.

Trog Hawley Capital

Valley National Bancorp, doing business as Valley Bank, is a regional bank holding company headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey.

Valley National Bank

NBH is a bank holding company that provides banking and financial services to individual and corporate customers.

NBH bank

EOM Investments

Finexio

Finexio is the smart B2B payment network.  The Finexio network eliminates commercial paper check spend by identifying and routing payments through a unique “network of closed loop networks”.  Payments on the Finexio rails are seamlessly pushed into a supplier’s bank accounts at fees substantially lower than prevailing commercial payment costs.   Finexio integrates into large payment aggregators, accounts payable automation, and procurement software platforms to enable them with a more efficient payment modality

Finexio offers a business payout infrastructure platform for AP and procure-to-pay (AP2P) software providers and enterprises (in the legal, wholesale, education, construction and healthcare sectors) to automate and optimize business payouts. The company also provides working capital solutions through “FinexioCash” and “FinexioOnDemand.” The platform can be used to automate AP by identifying and enabling payables and ultimately settling them through several means (including Finexio-issued payment cards, ACH, and checks). In addition to facilitating payments, the platform provides predictive payment and cash flow analytics, identify verification and fraud prevention, and exception processing automation. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/32102">June 2024</a>, the firm added Finexio Shield, a fraud protection solution to prevent fraud in its AP prlatform while optimizing supplier payments.

Platforms, apps, and cards to keep the corporate wallet in check

Business Expense Management

Finexio CEO on Why CFOs Can’t Afford to Ignore Automating Payables

Mastercard

Entered in to a strategic partnership with gMastercard to allow Finexio's clients to pay suppliers via Mastercard branded virtual cards.

Platforms offering payout automation solutions that cover the process either entirely or partially—from vendor onboarding to making payments

Finexio offers a business payout infrastructure platform for AP and procure-to-pay (AP2P) software providers and enterprises (in the legal, wholesale, education, construction and healthcare sectors) to automate and optimize business payouts. The company also provides working capital solutions through “FinexioCash” and “FinexioOnDemand.” The platform can be used to automate AP by identifying and enabling payables and ultimately settling them through several means (including Finexio-issued payment cards, ACH, and checks). In addition to facilitating payments, the platform provides predictive payment and cash flow analytics, identify verification and fraud prevention, and exception processing automation. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/32102">June 2024</a>, the firm added Finexio Shield, a fraud protection solution to prevent fraud in its AP prlatform while optimizing supplier payments.The company charges its users a monthly subscription starting at USD 1,000 (includes two users); it increases based on the number of users (USD 150 per additional users) and payment methods used.Finexio’s revenue reportedly rose 236% YoY in 2021, in response to gross dollar value (GDV) rising 211%.Key customers and partnershipsFinexio was reportedly used by three of the top 15 largest AP2P providers in the world, as of September 2022, which, in turn, served around 3,000 enterprises. Moreover, its enterprise customers included Amherst College, Worldwide Produce, Clark Hill, and Morgan &amp; Morgan.In 2022, several AP automation platforms partnered with Finexio to deliver vendor payment solutions to its users, including PairSoft (August), Scrypt (July), and Banc of California (May).

<div>
 
 Expensify offers an app that provides a diverse range of expense and payment solutions and insights for individuals and enterprises. It offers business expense cards and reimbursement platforms with automated receipt scanning and approval workflows. Expensify also provides bill payment solutions with automated tracking, approval, and payment.&nbsp;
 
 
 
 
 Its corporate cards also offer benefits to users in the form of discounts when using several B2B platforms such as Stripe, AWS, Quickbooks, and Stack Overflow. Expensify can also be integrated with several third-party HR, tax, accounting, and travel platforms software.
 
 
 
 
 The company follows a freemium pricing model. For business expense cards, users are charged a monthly fee per card. Non-card reimbursement and business payout management platforms are subscription-based.
 
 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23003">
 In October 2023
 </a>
 , Expensify added a feature to its app that allows users to send and receive money, split expenses within individuals or groups, and use chat functionality, signaling the company's entry into personal finance.
 
 
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 
 
 As of October 2021, the platform had over 10 million end users, across several enterprises including La Trobe University, Swatch Group, Pinterest, and Atlassian. Moreover, Expensify reportedly had around 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23613">
 719,000 paid members
 </a>
 as of November 2023.&nbsp;
 
 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 The company&rsquo;s
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26941">
 revenue amounted to USD 150.7 million
 </a>
 in 2023, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 13.2%.
 
 
 
 The company&rsquo;s 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16593?industryIds=76">
 revenue amounted to USD 169.5 million
 </a>
 in 2022, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 25.1%.
 
 
 
 
 The company was listed on the Nasdaq in November 2021, where it raised around USD 70 million at a USD 2.2 billion valuation. 
 
</div>

Expensify

Coupa offers a procurement and accounts payable management software that lets enterprises automate the management and settlement of payables (from invoice matching to payments) and supply chain activities. It also offers a travel and expense (T&amp;E) management platform, with embedded fraud detection, for employees to access integrated travel management solutions including travel booking, price assurance, and other traveler services.The company also operates the “Coupa App Marketplace,” a platform for business users to connect with certified solutions for supply chain, procurement, and finance functions. In March 2024, the firm introduced a number of <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27258">AI-based features</a> to automate tasks, improve efficiency, and enable smarter decision-making for businesses. The firm also plans to launch Forecast Collaboration, a new solution to improve communication between buyers and suppliers by May 2024.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/33007">August 2024</a>, Coupa introduced a further series of AI-driven features such as Coupa Navi, Contract Intelligence enhancements, and the Coupa Advantage Marketplace. to help companies optimize process efficiency and improve productivity.The company raised aggregate gross proceeds of USD 153 million through an IPO in October 2016 and was listed on the Nasdaq. However, in December 2022, the company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15272?industryIds=76">entered a definitive agreement </a>(completed in February 2023) to be acquired by Thoma Bravo for USD 8 billion and be delisted from the Nasdaq. Key customers and partnershipsThe company offers its solutions to several industries, ranging from automotive and banking services, to oil and gas, and telecommunications. Its clients include several large global enterprises, including Sanofi, MGM Resorts, Salesforce, Juniper Networks, and Cooper Standard.Coupa delivers its payout solutions in partnership with several companies. Its virtual card partners include AirPlus, HSBC, Citi, and J.P. Morgan, while its payment tech providers include Stripe, Mastercard, PayPal, and TransferMate. In October 2022, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14052">Coupa partnered </a>with integration and automation solution provider, TradeCentric, to optimize the former’s procurement solutions. The company subsequently <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17669">partnered with </a><a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/59">Goldman Sachs </a>in April 2023, to leverage the latter’s payment, treasury, and banking infrastructure solution, “Transaction Banking (TxB).”In January 2024, the <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25856">company partnered with Tonkean, </a>a no-code platform to develop business applications to launch “Tonkean Intake Orchestration for Coupa”, in Coupa App Marketplace, to improve intake-to-procure processes for customers.Moreover, Coupa launched an investment fund of USD 50 million in June 2021 to invest in early- and growth-stage startups in the business spend and procurement management industry. The funds first two portfolio companies were SaaS expense management platform, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/408080">Zylo </a>, and procurement management platform, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/152710">SourceDay </a>.

Coupa

Brex offers short-term financing (including earned revenue access) and expense management solutions. The platform primarily offers cards for businesses, including business expense card and corporate cards for larger businesses. Brex issues corporate cards based on several factors such as funding raised, revenue, and cash balances, instead of relying solely on credit scores for approvals.&nbsp;&nbsp;Brex also offers an automated bill payment solution for enterprises to manage payouts. This lets users choose several payment methods (ACH, wire transfers, checks, or cards) and also integrates with accounting systems such as Quickbooks and Xero. The company subsequently launched “Brex payables” in August 2023, an AI-enabled AP solution (from receiving invoices to approving payment) that combined bill payment and purchase card capabilities..In&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/33808">September 2024</a>, Brex launched Brex Embedded for global payments integration.&nbsp;Key customers and partnerships&nbsp;Brex users span several groups, such as tech startups, venture capitalists, and ecommerce companies. Brex primarily targets SMBs, and, as of October 2021, it reportedly generated around 60% of its revenue from mid-market companies. However, the company shifted its focus away from small businesses in June 2022, to focus on startups (pre-seed and venture funded companies) and mid-to-large-sized companies. Brex laid off around 11% of its workforce in October 2022, to increase focus on the company’s new strategy, and achieve sustainable profitability for years to come. It subsequently laid off a further 20% of its employees in January 2024 to make the company more agile and accelerate its path to profitability.Navan had around 8,800 enterprise customers as of April 2022, at which point Liquid was used by over 600 companies, including Zoom, Lyft, Pinterest, and Patreon.&nbsp;In October 2024, Brex partnered with Navan to create BrexPay for Navan, an integrated business travel and payments solution. Previously,&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/20254">Brex partnered</a> with&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/359227">Airwallex</a> in July 2023, to leverage AIrwallex’s network of 50+ global licenses, to support local currency collections for global corporate cards and employee expense reimbursements across the globe.In December 2023, Brex along with&nbsp; <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/780841">Ramp</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25146">collaborated with Uber’s enterprise arm</a> to improve expense processing efficiency by automating the receipt handling for Uber transactions while ensuring&nbsp; compliance with company policies.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Brex

Navan (formerly known as TripActions) offers a business and personal travel platform and pivoted to the expense management business by launching “TripActions Liquid” (Liquid) in early 2020. The company continues to offer a range of expense management solutions beyond just travel expense claims, including business expense cards and an employee reimbursement platform.&nbsp;&nbsp;The expense cards include physical and virtual cards with spend controls, policies and compliance, reconciliation, and custom dashboards for insights. Moreover, the cards reportedly bear zero foreign transaction fees (as of April 2022).The company claims that the Liquid platform reduces expense reporting hours by upto 66% and reconciliation time by 95%.&nbsp;&nbsp;Key customers and partnerships&nbsp;Navan had around 8,800 enterprise customers as of April 2022, at which point Liquid was used by over 600 companies, including Zoom, Lyft, Pinterest, and Patreon.&nbsp;In&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/34893">October 2024</a>, Navan partnered with Brex&nbsp; to create BrexPay for Navan, an integrated business travel and payments solution. Previously Navan partnered with Visa and Mastercard in June 2023, to launch “Navan Connect”, a patented card-link solution that allows businesses to connect corporate cards from third parties, for expense management and reconciliations. The company planned to expand its network tie-ups in the future.Funding and financialsThe volume of transactions processed through Navan reportedly increased by 7.5x since the period between June and September 2022.In October 2022, Navan <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13743">raised USD 304 million in funding </a>, comprising a USD 154 million Series G round and a USD 150 million structured financial deal, to invest in expanding its global operations. The round valued the company at USD 9.2 billion, against its USD 7.25 billion valuation in October 2021. Moreover, the funding came just weeks after Navan reportedly <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13440?industryIds=76">filed confidentially to go public </a>in Q2 2023 at a USD 12 billion valuation.&nbsp;

Navan

Ramp offers a comprehensive set of tools for expense and payout management. Its “5-in-1” software covers business expense cards, expense reimbursement platforms, and bill payment solutions (through ACH, checks, and virtual cards) and also includes automated accounting and reporting. Ramp came out of stealth in February 2020 with its business expense card offering (including physical and virtual cards) and thereafter expanded to other expense and payout solutions. The platform also offers bi-directional integration (to incorporate a contract review process into the approval workflow), dynamic intake forms, purchase order enhancements, among other features&nbsp;The platform lets users set and implement spend controls and expense policies and also helps enterprises manage their expenses through categorization, real-time reporting, and insights. Ramp claims it can enable businesses to close their books 86% faster than through traditional expense methods and reportedly reduces its users’ spending by 3.3% on average. In October 2024, Ramp launched Ramp App Center, a new app store that allows third-party developers to build specialized apps that integrate with Ramp's platform. &nbsp;Ramp has used acquisitions as a means of inorganic growth. In June 2023, it <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19688">acquired Cohere.io </a>, to drive AI-related projects to help customers save time and money. Ramp also offers autonomous agents that concentrate on essential tasks such as expense management, fraud detection, and contract negotiations, utilizing both internal data and the broader linguistic context from GPT and the internet. In January 2024, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26114">Ramp&nbsp; acquired Venue, </a>a procurement solutions provider (primarily for large organizations) to improve employee purchase request, approval, and payment processes..Ramp can also be integrated with a range of third-party apps and service providers, including Amazon Business, Lyft, Corporate Traveller, Google Suite, and BambooHR.&nbsp;&nbsp;The company primarily generates revenue through card payment interchange fees, and was yet to generate revenue from its bill payment solution as of March 2022, despite seeing volume growth. Ramp expanded its bill payment solution in August 2022, by <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13437">launching buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) solution </a>, “Flex.” Ramp reportedly processed over USD 10 billion in accounts payable volumes annually, as of January 2024.&nbsp;Key customers and partnerships&nbsp;Although Ramp initially focused on the SMB market, the company has expanded its focus market to larger enterprises, including Ro, Avelo, and Anduril. Ramp had over 15,000 business customers as of August 2023. Based on the new customer sign-ups in June 2022 (compared to May) Ramp reported faster growth in its enterprise segment customer base - up 300%&nbsp; - than its mid market (up 50%) and SMB (up 22%) customers.&nbsp;Ramp has also invested in several expense management companies across the globe, including MENA-focussed <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/1833119">Pluto </a>(February 2022) and Indian fintech <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/947785">Karbon </a>.&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24091">In November 2023, </a>Ramp collaborated with Microsoft Copilot, integrating AI for finance tasks, including card issuance and anomaly detection, reducing manual work with the&nbsp; aim of streamline finances for enhanced strategic focus.In December 2023, Brex along with&nbsp; <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/780841">Ramp </a><a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25146">collaborated with Uber’s enterprise arm </a>to improve expense processing efficiency by automating the receipt handling for Uber transactions while ensuring&nbsp; compliance with company policies.&nbsp;

Ramp

Solutions that enable employees to avoid out-of-pocket spending on business expenses, using company-issued payment cards

Platforms that let employees scan receipts (through OCR) and automatically submit claims to receive reimbursements with the limited involvement of admin, finance, or HR staff

Can extract information from invoices/receipts, classify expenses, automate approval and reconciliation processes, and offer insights

Tools can usually be customized based on a user's business nature and workflows

Partner with open banking infrastructure providers to enable account-to-account payments and topping-up cards

Insights and visibility on expenses and payout processes improves transparency in business spend and reimbursements

Solutions commonly include software platforms that digitize, automate, and offer insights on expenses for businesses

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>
 AP and procure-to-pay software provider, Finexio, and spend management solutions company, Unimarket, have teamed up to launch a payment risk management tool named Payment Risk Score (PRS). The tool was developed with the intention to combat payment fraud through providing organizations a data-driven method to assess risk levels in various payment methods such as virtual cards, checks, ACH transfers, and wire transfers.
 The PRS tool is designed to provide valuable insights which allow organizations to turn from defensive to offensive risk management, thereby improving security and boosting operational efficiency in payment processes.
</div> Analyst Quicktake: 
 The latest tool builds on Finexio’s launch of its fraud protection tool ( <a href="https: 
//sp-edge.com/updates/32102"> Finexio Shield </a> ) for AP solutions to strengthen its fraud mitigation capabilities. The partnership also follows Unimarket's recent <a href="https: 
//www.unimarket.com/solutions/payments/"> introduction </a> of its fully managed accounts payable payments service, Unimarket Payments, to the US in May 2024. This collaboration with Finexio further strengthens Unimarket's position in providing comprehensive payment solutions to its customers.

Finexio

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