Multi-currency payments startup Paytron has raised a $4.35 million seed round as it launches it product for the SMB market.
Australian VC fund Carthona Capital and Germany’s Picus Capital were the major backers in the raise.
Co-founders and former banking execs Jaco Veldsman and Francois Henrion set out to address the pain point of small businesspeople dealing too much paperwork to manage their international payments.
The fintech, which is integrated with Xero, offer all-in-one financial cloud solution that allows businesses to approve, manage and pay bills in multiple currencies and is designed to fill the gap between smaller businesses and large organisations that have access to top-end financial services.
Veldsman said they’d spent months of developing and refining our product after seeing how inefficient the world of business payments still is during the pandemic. The launched Paytron 12 months ago
“Large companies solve inefficiencies by throwing people at the problem, but this is unnecessary and not feasible for smaller companies. Removing these hurdles allows small business owners or their bookkeepers to focus on value-adding, rather than data re-entry,” he said.
“Business competition is tough enough as it is. There is no place for the bureaucracy involved in setting up and managing overseas transactions – it doesn’t have to be this way. We created Paytron to level the playing field between smaller businesses and established players, and we’re so excited to have the backing from Carthona Capital, Picus Capital to help make our vision a reality.”
Paytron replaces up to three systems, with the ability to easily make payments in AUD and 30 other currencies to overseas suppliers, vendors and service providers. It can also capture and digitise invoices from PDF, schedule payments, send reminders and offers automated fraud protection by detecting suspicious changes on invoice payment details.
Co-founder Francois Henrion said it was a common misconception that the business side of payments is complex and difficult, on top of the fact that the average cost of processing an invoice is around $30.87 according to the ATO.
“We see Paytron as the natural evolution of this process, using automation to get rid of manual data entry – and the errors that go with it -and allowing SMBs to quickly make payments across different geographies and time zones, regardless of the platforms they use,” he said
“With Paytron, accountants and bookkeepers can be far more efficient and accurate for their clients, which is good for everybody. We’ve already experienced massive demand for our services, and look forward to building out our services following the official launch.”
Paytron offers a basic free account, with the premium service from $19.95 month. As part of the launch, they’re offering the first year free for businesses who sign up before the end of the financial year.
Trending
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.