Dive Brief:

• As it pursues global expansion, Billtrust has acquired iController, a Belgian collections management software company, for $58 million, according to a Tuesday press release. For Billtrust, which provides business-to-business accounts receivable and payments software services, iController's software-as-a-service is a complementary offering.
• Billtrust CEO and founder Flint Lane said by email that iController, will allow the Lawrenceville, New Jersey-based company to expand its reach in the European market and improve the company's global collections capabilities. Part of the reason the company went public this year was to make acquisitions and “be aggressive in this area,” Lane said in the emailed statement provided by a spokesperson.
• At iController, which has 566 European clients, employees will continue working at the headquarters in Ghent, Belgium and at another office in Amsterdam.

Dive Insight:

The iController acquisition will help Billtrust extend its reach to more customers worldwide and provide more services to its current customers, Lane said. In January, Billtrust completed a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger with South Mountain Merger Corp, and went public in the process as a way to advance those goals. 

"We've been very clear that one of the reasons we became a public company is so that we could be more acquisitive," Lane said. "Our intent is to continue to be aggressive in this area." And specifically, the company will continue targeting software-as-a-service businesses, he said.

iController’s software allows credit and collections managers as well as CFOs "to see information and communication in real time, providing visibility into cash flow management," the release said.

“Joining the Billtrust family will help us more rapidly scale our business and increase the level of resources we can deploy to better serve our growing customer base,” Peter Janssens, iController founder and CEO, said in the statement. “Our shared values and aspirations make this an ideal combination for iController.”

In June, Billtrust launched a secondary stock offering at a price of $12.25 per share. Gross proceeds from the offering, which closed the following month, delivered $126.8 million, less underwriting discounts and commissions, to existing shareholders who sold shares, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company didn't receive any proceeds from the offering.

In addition to buying iController, Billtrust has also focused on expanding its business-to-business payments clientele. In August 2020, Finexio, an accounts payable software company, collaborated with Billtrust's business payments network to facilitate faster and more accurate digital payments and reconciliation services for companies.

More recently, Billtrust in July announced that Kone, an elevator and escalator company, will use its platform to send invoices and accept payments in Canada.