BNPL startups like Billie, Mondu, Tranch, and Two are offering short-term credit to businesses facing cash-flow crunches. The short-term B2B loan industry is currently valued at $700B.

Why should we care?
At present, this area is dominated by established players like Barclays, HSBC, and Deutsche Bank. But through tech-driven automation, BNPL challengers can effectively shorten loan disbursement processes, providing a crucial selling point over incumbents. “These B2B BNPL companies can easily win over market share from slow-moving traditional banks,” said Lily Shaw of Omers Ventures. “Banks’ risk profiles are set up in such a way that they can’t move fast enough.” Billie and Mondu both see businesses through a B2C buyer’s journey, adding BNPL options to checkout processes for products like office supplies. What’s more, according to Aiga Senftleben, co-founder of Billie, the average transaction size is ten times larger for businesses than for consumers, offering a promising and less volatile gateway to growth. If Billie, which is currently valued at $640 million, and other B2B players take off, then we could see consumer BNPL giants like Klarna and Affirm enter the space as well, leading to a three-way race among fintechs and banks.