Veem steps into B2B BNPL as small businesses seek flexible lending solutions

The news: Veem, which provides payment solutions for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), introduced two new short-term lending products as part of its Veem Capital business line.

• Pay Later: SMBs can apply for short-term loans quicker and with less documentation than banks require. Loans can be repaid in equal installments over a three-month period.
• Pay with Card: SMBs can pay for goods and services on Veem’s platform using a credit card, which lets them take advantage of rewards and likely consolidate cash flow into one platform.

Why this matters: SMBs need more flexible payment solutions as they recover from the pandemic—the US Census Bureau’s “Small Business Pulse Survey” found that 67.6% of SMBs (businesses with fewer than 500 employees) experienced a large or moderate negative effect from the pandemic.

Many SMBs have trouble getting bank loans—or simply don’t qualify for them—and many banks don’t offer short-term loans. And the SMBs that do qualify for bank loans often face a time-consuming and costly process.

The bigger picture: The buy now, pay later (BNPL) industry is extending into new areas as competition in the mainstream consumer-facing BNPL market grows more intense.

BNPL provider Uplift made a name for itself by targeting the travel industry, and last fall, Splitit began offering its flexible payment solution at law and accounting firms across the US and Australia. But B2B BNPL remains largely untapped—though it's starting to gain steam: B2B financing solutions provider Behalf just raised $100 million to build out its B2B BNPL product. Jumping into this segment lets Veem avoid the competition in the consumer-facing BNPL space as players like Klarna, Afterpay, and Affirm vie for market share.

The big takeaway: Veem’s new financing solutions are a golden opportunity to capitalize on two lucrative segments. It can tap into the B2B payments as the space grows and digitizes: US B2B payments are expected to hit $27.542 trillion this year, per our forecasts. And it can also capitalize on the rapidly expanding BNPL space as business owners embrace the tech.