Payments fintech Mesh raises capital to continue growth for SME market

Fintech startup company Mesh Payments has raised $13 million in a new round of financing. The funding round will go toward enhancing the company's sales and marketing, as well as increase the number of partnerships with other management platforms.
Launched in September 2020, Mesh issues "highly controlled virtual cards" that can be utilized by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for both online and offline payments – combining the growing usage of mobile wallets with a broad array of corporate payment plans and processes.
Since its launch, Mesh has had a 20-fold increase in paying customers.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and explosion in remote work, SMEs are facing a variety of new challenges, particularly in terms of corporate spending. Systems relying on corporate cards and outdated reimbursement policies are breaking down, slowing the speed at which organizations are able to make decisions.

Additionally, current systems lack visibility and oversight, which creates a dependence on physical cards that will negatively impact companies if those cards are lost, exploited or expire.

The newly launched Mesh Payments solves these problems by reimagining the role of payments within an organization's corporate structure.

The startup embeds a cardless payments solution into existing organizational systems, which allows finance teams to maintain real-time visibility across IT, HR, Marketing and other departments. Additionally, Mesh gives customers the ability to automatically manage receipts and set policy limits. This streamlines payment activities so financial monitors can better manage their payments and ensure there's never a disruption of services.

Oded Zehavi, CEO and Co-Founder of Mesh Payments said that Mesh recognizes the biggest obstacle facing SMEs is "a corporate payment problem and not a corporate card problem."

The announcement follows a recent cardless payment rollout for companies which focuses on both recurring and one-time payments, PYMNTS.com reported. The solution equips companies with "complete visibility and control over businesses corporate spending and enables intuitive payment orchestration, reconciliation, and corporate spend intelligence," according to the company press release.

The new round of financing was led by TLV Partners, with participation from Meron Capital, R-Squared Ventures, and investors led by fintech VC Ryan Gilbert.