The virtual card takes on another dimension with Stampli

From corporate invoice management to the launch of a virtual corporate card, there is obviously only one step. At least that's what the American SaaS company Stampli seems to believe, as the trend towards card dematerialization is growing worldwide.

FACTS

• Stampli is a U.S.-based business expense and supplier invoice management company. It has just enriched its services by launching its own corporate card. What makes it special? It is totally digital.

• Simply called Stampli Card, this new dematerialized payment method is presented as an extension of the business expense management services already offered by Stampli.

• This corporate card will be used on a daily basis by the employees of Stampli's client companies.

• However, the financial management teams of Stampli's client companies will be in charge of piloting it. They will be able to issue, personalize (authorized amounts, payment frequencies, duration of use) or cancel cards for their employees simply and quickly.

• Beyond their parameters, the Stampli Cards should also reduce the workload of the companies' financial teams. The expenses incurred with Stampli Cards will be automatically processed by Stampli's corporate expense management software, just like any other invoice.

• The automated processing even includes sending reminders to employees who have made expenses, asking them to return their receipts for example.

• The digital version of the Stampli Card is a first step before the launch of a physical card.

CHALLENGES

• Going beyond monthly statements: Stampli wants to impose its card as an alternative to traditional credit cards, which considerably limit the ability of companies and financial managers to anticipate "phantom" expenses incurred by employees without pre-authorization from the company itself.

• To assert its legitimacy: Stampli is playing the card of the logical extension of its core business of corporate expense management to make its move into a new market more legitimate: that of payment methods. The company is nonetheless shaking up the competitive barriers in the trend of a generalized erasure.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• The logic of diversification of the players in the management of professional expenses has become stronger over the years. In France, the benchmark Spendesk launched its own physical prepaid card in 2017.

• But since then, it is the virtual card model that seems to be on the verge of taking over. Also in France, Qonto presented its limited-time card model last month.

• In the United States, in addition to Stampli, the FinTech Extend also presented a solution for issuing virtual cards on demand for its business customers. Its offer was launched at the end of September with American Express, which also indicated in a study that 39% of American companies plan to expand their use of virtual cards in the next year.

    KEY FIGURES

• 20 billion invoices managed annually
• 1,200 active customers
• 50 million raised in Series C funding
• 85 million raised since launch