• Sila launched Instant Settlement this week.
• The new tool offers customers real-time access to ACH debits made on the Sila platform.
• Instant Settlement works with all ACH transactions on the Sila platform and doesn’t require banks to adopt a particular payment rail.

Banking and payment infrastructure-as-a-service company Sila is launching a new product called Instant Settlement this week. The solution offers customers real-time access to ACH debits made with the Sila platform.

As its name suggests, Sila’s new tool offers companies access to funds instantly, without needing to wait the traditional two-to-five day time period of the ACH settlement to clear. Without the need to wait for funds to clear, companies no longer need to pre-fund transactions or rely on their own capital.

With Instant Settlement, Sila pre-funds the consumer’s digital wallet within a matter of seconds. The company’s approach works with all ACH transactions on the Sila platform because it doesn’t rely on any particular payment rail.

“With Instant Settlement, we are revolutionizing the way businesses and individuals access and manage their funds,” said Sila Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer Shamir Karkal. “We understand the importance of transaction speed in today’s fast-paced business landscape, and by offering Instant Settlement, we are providing our customers with a competitive advantage that sets them apart in their respective industries.”

Sila notes that Instant Settlement works best in situations such as payroll processing, back-office money movements, B2B transactions, and physical cash transactions where ACH is preferred, but return risks are low. That’s because it requires customers to maintain sufficient funds in a reserve wallet to cover potential return risks.

The timing of today’s release is notable as it comes shortly after the launch of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s launch of FedNow real-time payments system. Sila differentiates itself from FedNow and other real-time payments companies such as RTP because it doesn’t require banks to adopt a specific rail. “While everyone is rushing to RTP (65% coverage) and FedNow both of those instant payment systems are limited by the number of banks that adopt a particular instant payment rail while Sila’s Instant Settlement doesn’t rely on banks to adopt anything and instead, it is applicable to 100% of ACH transactions on its platform,” the company explained.

Sila was founded in 2018 by Karkal, who was one of the entrepreneurs who co-founded challenger bank Simple in 2009. The Oregon-based company has gone on to raise $20.7 million.

Photo by Ivan Samkov

• Chargeflow raised $11 million to build chargeback tools that help merchants automate card disputes.
• The funding was led by OpenView and brings Chargeflow’s total funding to $14 million.
• Chargeflow will use the funds to accelerate product development, fuel company growth, improve on its customer experience, and ultimately put a halt to fraud and illegitimate chargebacks.

Chargeflow is on a mission to simplify and increase profitability for companies processing online payments. Today, the Israel-based company received a boost toward that goal in the form of $11 million in Seed funding.

The VC funding, which was led by OpenView, brings Chargeflow’s total funding to $14 million. The company will use the investment to accelerate product development, fuel company growth, improve on its customer experience, and ultimately put a halt to fraud and illegitimate chargebacks.

“The funding will also allow us to build new products, just as our newest announcements, Chargeflow Alerts, and our all-new Stripe App, which has already gained amazing momentum and feedback from our customers,” explained Chargeflow Co-Founder, Marketing & Product Avia Chen.

Launched in 2021, the Chargeflow Alerts tool notifies merchants as soon as a customer files a dispute on a transaction, and allows the merchant to proceed with the transaction, offer a refund, or gather evidence for representment. The free Stripe App offers businesses a fully-automated chargeback management service.

Chen, along with his cofounder Ariel Chen originally launched Chargeflow as a Shopify app in 2021. The two have since added more processors, including Klarna, Braintree, Recharge, Stripe, and others. When integrating with these players, Chargeflow establishes a two-way data connection that facilitates the flow of information between the systems. The app offers merchants an overview of all fraud and disputes and autonomously fight chargebacks, disputes, and fraud with just a few clicks.

Photo by Anete Lusina

• Melio is launching Pay Over Time, a buy now, pay later tool for small businesses.
• Pay Over Time enables businesses to pay invoices in a single installment, or over the course of three, six, or 12 months.
• The suppliers receive the payments on time and in full and do not need to sign up or register.

Small business payments and receivables company Melio unveiled its newest tool for small businesses (SMBs) this week. The New York-based company is launching Pay Over Time, a buy now, pay later (BNPL) solution for SMB clients.

Powered by Credit Key, Pay Over Time allows Melio’s small business customers to pay invoices in monthly installments, while their suppliers get paid in full and on time. Businesses can select to repay in a single installment (net 30) or over the course of three, six, or 12 months. Melio then debits the repayments each month from the business’ preferred bank account.

“We’re proud to be providing more flexibility to small businesses that need to pay bills and invoices with strict terms, enabling our customers to better align their spend and income,” said Melio Co-founder and CEO Matan Bar.

As a result of the more flexible payments structure, Melio’s business customers are able to free up to $50,000 in cash flow when they need it. The installments come with no impact to vendors and doesn’t require them to sign up or register.

Melio was founded in 2018 to provide accounts payable and receivable as a service through banks, software providers, and marketplaces. The company’s tools allow businesses to choose how they pay and get paid, and help them stay on top of paying their bills and invoices.

“Melio is continuing to scale rapidly and offer new products to meet the evolving needs of small business owners,” said Melio co-founder and CTO Ilan Atias. “This product will be a gamechanger for small businesses because of the ease of use – with Pay Over Time small businesses have a tool embedded into their pay flow to quickly access financing.”

Photo by Sora Shimazaki

• Ramp is launching Ramp Plus, a new suite of procurement tools.
• Ramp Plus will help finance teams with procurement-related tasks, including approval workflows, global expense capabilities, payment card controls, and more.
• The new tools will be available starting in September.

Business finance automation platform Ramp is getting a lift today. The New York-based company has launched Ramp Plus, a new procurement solution to help businesses scale. “With Ramp Plus,” the company explained in an announcement, “we are helping growing companies with their most complex financial operations.”

Today’s launch positions Ramp as a more unified platform to help finance teams with procurement-related tasks. Some of the new capabilities include:

• Procure-to-pay solution that helps businesses with spend requests, approval workflows, and purchase order tracking.
• Global expenses and payments capabilities that enable global spending with support for multiple entities, multiple currencies, tax reporting, and debiting for select currencies. 
• A workflow builder that helps businesses automate complex processes with rules-based workflows.
• Enhanced controls and policy enforcement that include payment card auto-locks, transaction review mandates, and flags for out-of-policy expenses.

Ramp Plus can be easily integrated within an organization’s existing tech stack.

Shopify is one of Ramp Plus’ early partners. The ecommerce company is leveraging Ramp’s new technology to help manage business expenses and issue payment cards for its 10,000+ employees.

Ramp Plus will be available starting in September, and Ramp is automatically upgrading all of its existing SMBs and mid-market business customers to Ramp Plus for one year for free. Other existing Ramp customers that sign up for Ramp Plus before September 19 can receive complimentary access to the new service for free for a year.

Ramp was founded in 2019 and serves 15,000 companies that range in size from startups to enterprises with its suite of payment cards, expense management tools, accounts payable offerings, working capital, and more. The company has raised $1.4 billion in funding, including its most recent $200 million Series C round. Eric Glyman is co-founder and CEO.

Photo by Dietmar Janssen