Openpay moves into B2B payments
Buy now pay later hopeful Openpay has moved into the B2B payments market, announcing an agreement to provide a B2B portal for Woolworths.Openpay describes its new service, Openpay for Business, as a software-as-a-service solution, designed to allow companies to manage trade accounts, including applications, credit checks, approvals and account management.The Woolworths deal is for three years with an option to extend for a further two years.Openpay chief executive Michael Eidel said in a statement: "Businesses with trade accounts currently face manual, very time-consuming processes to gain approval for credit checks and manage their accounts."Openpay raised A$50 million in its initial public offering and was listed on the ASX in December. It claims that its BNPL technology, Openpay Live, facilitates "seamless, secure and swift payments between customers and merchants". The company was established in 2013. Its BNPL proposition allows consumers to split payments for in-store and online purchases into a series of payments, interest free. Plans can be for payments between $50 and $20,000, with payments over periods from two to 24 months.It says elements of its product offering that differentiate it from the competition include larger payment plan sizes and longer repayment terms, flexibility around the timing of the start of repayments and a deferred payment facility to help avoid late fees.According to its December quarter update it has 462,384 active plans - an increase of 187 per cent year on year. It has 1894 merchants signed up.Transaction value for the quarter was $84.4 million - up 95 per cent over the previous corresponding period. Revenue was $8.3 million.