SMALL BUSINESS ADVICE
Melio | January 25, 2023
On January 24, 2023, Melio, the industry-leading B2B payments platform for small businesses, announced a new integration with the cloud-based accounting software platform Xero. Through this integration, Melio's small business clients will be able to seamlessly sync their accounts payable and receivable data with Xero, therefore saving time on bill payments, facilitating reconciliation, and enhancing insight into incoming payments.
Melio's co-founder and CTO, Ilan Atias, said, "This two-way sync with Xero will help small business customers better understand how much money is going in and out of their accounts at a time when it is critical to keep a close eye on cash flow." He explained, "Moreover, this integration will help save customers time and simplify the bill-paying process while providing them with more visibility and control over their day-to-day finances."
(Source – PR Newswire)
The United States is home to 33.2 million small businesses, which accounts for 99.9% of the nation's businesses. This integration will enable these businesses to spend less time on accounting and more time growing their businesses. In addition, small business bills, payments, and invoice information will be seamlessly synchronized across the two platforms, saving time typing data into separate accounts and eliminating the guesswork of matching charges to open invoices.
The VP of Partnerships, Americas, at Xero, Carol Haverty, stated, "Melio's integration with Xero offers tremendous value to our accounting and bookkeeping partners and their small business clients." She also said, "Melio and Xero have a shared vision of championing small business. We look forward to helping our customers streamline workflows and save time with this integration so they can focus on growing and running their business."
(Source – PR Newswire)
This is Melio's fourth synchronization with an industry-leading accounting software vendor, extending the company's track record of collaborating and integrating with financial institutions, software providers, and markets.
About Melio
Melio is a market-leading B2B payments technology firm that helps small and medium-sized businesses send and receive payments rapidly and without hassle, thereby improving their cash flow and productivity. Melio, one of the fastest-growing B2B payment platforms in the United States, is revolutionizing the transfer of funds between businesses. It serves banking institutions and software firms that want to provide accounts payable and receivable solutions to small business clients. The company was founded in 2018, with headquarters in New York, a research and development facility in Tel Aviv, and headquarters in Colorado for the western United States.
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MANAGEMENT
AutoStore | January 11, 2023
On January 10, 2023, AutoStore, one of the leading warehouse automation companies in the world, announced the debut of Pio in North America. Pio is a plug-and-play version of AutoStore's popular cube storage technology, designed specifically for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
Based on a pay-per-pick service model, Pio enables SMBs, such as retailers of sporting goods, apparel, crafts, and cosmetics, to adopt robotic automation for a relatively cheap investment, thereby helping more businesses obtain access to the world's most advanced automation technology.
Mats Hovland Vikse, CEO of AutoStore, said, "We established Pio to make our technology available to smaller businesses," He also added, "Only 15 percent of the world's warehouses are automated, and fulfillment operations at smaller retailers are still largely manual. Pio levels the playing field so that enterprises of all sizes can take advantage of the space and cost efficiencies of automated storage and distribution systems."
(Source – Globe Newswire)
Retailers pay a fee for each item picked. Software, robots, and ports used in the automation are owned and maintained by Pio. Users simply need to acquire product bins and the robots' running frames. A Pio facility is modular and expandable and works on standard plug-and-play software that integrates with the most prevalent online retail and shipping platforms. In effect, Pio enables small and medium-sized businesses to compete with much larger businesses with minimal capital expenditures, increased staff, and floor space requirements.
About AutoStore
Founded in 1996, AutoStore is a robot technology company that developed and continues to innovate Cube Storage Automation - the most compact product/inventory storage solution. The company intends to combine software, hardware, and human capabilities to build the future of warehouse management. AutoStore is a multinational corporation with over a thousand systems installed in 46 countries and a variety of sectors. All sales are developed, installed, and supported by a network of authorized system integrators. The company is headquartered in Nedre Vats, Norway, with offices in offices in the United States, Oslo (Norway), the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, Japan, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, and Singapore
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FINANCE
At-Bay | January 19, 2023
At-Bay, the leading insurance company for the digital age, announced that it is launching a new cyber insurance product for small businesses. At-Bay's admitted policies, approved in 47 states, will be sold solely through its expanding partner network and will assist small businesses with their insurance and security needs.
At-Bay will provide cyber insurance policies that have been approved by an AM Best A-rated paper backer. Like At-Bay's additional cyber offering, policyholders of admitted cyber will have access to At-Bay's complimentary Security Report and their active risk Monitoring services, which are backed by At-Bay's in-house Security team. Furthermore, policyholders from At-Bay will also have access to the same best-in-class Claims team and preferred cyber response providers that the surplus policyholders have.
Kristie Felton, Head of Digital Partnerships at At-Bay, said, "Our new admitted cyber insurance product allows us to better serve small businesses which face just as much digital risk as their larger counterparts with affordable cyber coverage." She also added, "Releasing this new offering solely through our digital API partners aligns with our mission as a digital-first specialty carrier."
Partners who have already integrated At-Bay's other API offerings will see shorter integration times because of the shared architecture across the products. In addition, the modular design makes sure that quoting works smoothly in any partner environment. Automated quoting capabilities create bindable quotes in less than 30 seconds for policies with limits of up to $1 million for companies with up to $25 million in revenue.
About At-Bay
Founded in 2016, At-Bay is a cyber insurance provider built from the ground up to assist businesses in dealing with digital risks. At-Bay combines industry-leading insurance with world-class technology to help clients face risks head-on. Through our partnerships with both brokers and business owners, the company offers cutting-edge insurance products and proactive risk monitoring services to organizations of all sizes and in all sectors. At-Bay is supported by Glilot Capital, Acrew Capital, the HSB fund of Munich Re Ventures, ION Crossover Partners, Icon Ventures, Khosla Ventures, M12, entrepreneur Shlomo Kramer, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Qumra Capital.
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