In the news this week, we have MasterCard’s next-gen B2B payment solutions, NatWest’s AI transformation powered by AWS and Accenture, Ramp’s $22.5 billion valuation, and Ai4, the largest AI industry event in North America.
Payment solutions provider, MasterCard has upped its game with the launch of Mastercard Receivables Manager, a next-gen payment solution for B2B transactions. The newest offering by MasterCard will automate payments for B2B purposes as well as enhance suppliers’ reconciliation capabilities through the virtual card.
Marc Pettican, Global Head of Corporate Solutions at Mastercard, commenting on the virtual card said, “Businesses today expect simple, secure, and seamless ways to pay and get paid – with many turning to virtual cards to meet those expectations.” The Global Head of Corporate Solutions also added that MasterCard is thrilled to support clients wherever they are on their modernization journey.
As per a recent survey, 93% of businesses admitted to a customer demand for digitization of payments. However, two-thirds also acknowledged that they lack behind in this segment. With MasterCard Receivables Manager, it’s expected that both the payment digitization and reconciliation will become more cost-effective and agile.
In an extension of its collaboration with ChatGPT developer OpenAI in March, NatWest has now entered a five-year partnership with AWS and Accenture to support its AI adoption. The partnership will allow its relationship managers to access deep insights and analysis on each customer, thus improving personalized servicing.
Additionally, NatWest’s 20 million customers will also be able to benefit from personalized product recommendations driven by AI-based tools and deep analysis. Further, revamped documentation and verification processes will also help NatWest improve its digital onboarding services.
CEO Paul Thwaite says the partnership will enable customers to be served “better and faster than ever before” as part of a move to becoming “a simpler, more technology and data-driven bank”.
After a year of slowed growth, fintech Ramp has made an impressive comeback as it secured $500 million in the latest funding round. The corporate card and payment services platform is now valued at $22.5 billion, the company announced this week.
The funding round which marked a 41% month-on-month jump for Ramp, was led by ICONIQ. Existing investors Founders Fund, GIC, Coatue and General Catalyst also took part in the capital raising event that brought Ramp’s total investor funding to $1.9 billion to date.
“Ramp’s spectacular ramp in such a short period is another indicator that the fintech ice age has thawed, especially for firms already printing cash and selling AI-flavored picks-and-shovels to CFOs,” Michael Ashley Schulman, chief investment officer at Running Point Capital said.
Earlier in July, Ramp also launched its first set of AI agents to help clients flag fraud, update policies, as well as improve review and approval of transactions. Founded in 2019, Ramp facilitates tens of billions of purchases annually and plans to introduce more AI agents in coming days.
Launched in 2018, Ai4 is North America’s biggest and most awaited Artificial Intelligence (AI) event attended by over 8,000 attendees from 85 countries from all over the world. This year, the AI industry event is set to take place in Los Angeles from August 11 to 13.
The event marketed for its “dedicated content & unbeatable networking for both business & technical” highlights the latest AI trends, discusses the most advanced generative AI solutions, and brings forward the most sought-after AI agents.
The speakers at this year’s Ai4 include Liz Bacelar, Yogi Pillay, Emma Hinchcliffe, Ben Lamm, and Fei-Fei Li among others.
If you're an avid financial reader, a startup enthusiast, or a business professional looking to stay up to date with the latest happenings around the world and the US, this is where you get it all.
Our experts at Monily compile a weekly list of the most important reads from Fintech, business, and many more areas that will interest you.
So, come back again for Monily's weekly scoop next week. Till then if you wish to know more about what we do, click here!
INTERESTING FOR YOU
