Raistone partners with Mastercard for working capital payments

Facing criticism from merchants over excessive interchange fees, card giants are partnering with fintechs that promote virtual cards as a working capital lifeline for small businesses.

This week, New York-based working capital management firm, Raistone has announced the partnership with Mastercard under which they would facilitate business-to-business (B2B) finance payments and speed up access to working capital for small-and-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) using the Mastercard’s virtual card technology.

The company will use the Mastercard’s payment technology to tap into the secure payment innovation which would speed up and simplify the finance approval process. The company clams that the use of virtual cards ‘promotes diversity and inclusion by extending convenient financial tools to the companies that need them most’. However, the company doesn’t address the reluctance of merchants to accept commercial cards.

This year, Virgin Money partners with Expend for working capital management while last year, Wells Fargo launched AI-powered integrated receivables solutions in partnership with DadeSystems.

“Integrating Mastercard’s virtual card technology within Raistone’s customer-facing software, allows us to significantly improve cash flow through quicker payments, supporting daily operations and fueling growth”, said Claire Thompson, EVP Global Trade, Mastercard Enterprise Partnerships.

Adding further to this, “With an embedded finance experience, we are accelerating easier access to secure working capital, ensuring that businesses have the means to manage and grow their business”.

As noted, the partnership will enable automated financing to suppliers via virtual cards without requiring the involvement of their customers. The virtual card program is being deployed directly to SMBs as well as being integrated into other customer-facing software provided by Raistone’s large enterprise partners.

Private equity-backed Raistone is a working capital management firm and the company enables the financing options for the businesses and integrates its services with the existing platforms the businesses use.