Upflow, a French startup we’ve been covering for quite a while, originally focused on managing outstanding invoices. The company is now announcing a shift in its strategy to become a B2B payment platform with its own payment gateway to complement its accounts receivable automation solution.Like many software-as-a-service products, Upflow started by building a central hub specifically designed for one job in particular: CFOs. From the Upflow dashboards, CFOs and finance teams could see all their company’s invoices, track payments, communicate with team members, and send reminders to clients.It integrates nicely with other financial tools and services to automatically import data from those third-party services. And a tool like Upflow can be particularly important as many tech companies struggle to raise their next funding round and want to improve their cash balance.But that was just the first step in a bigger roadmap.“Basically, my vision has always been that the real problem is payment methods,” Upflow co-founder and CEO Alexandre Louisy (pictured above) told TechCrunch. “Today, when you pay in a store, you pay with your phone. When you pay for your Spotify subscription or your Amazon subscription, you don’t even think about how you pay.”“But when you look at B2B payments, the way you pay today hasn’t changed in the last 50 years

The team at Upflow is pleased to announce that we’ve secured $5 million in new funding to bring Payments by Upflow to market.This Series A extension will help them “bring the best of consumer e-commerce to B2B payments.”Designed specifically for B2B businesses, Payments by Upflow is described as being “the next step in our vision towards transforming how B2B companies get paid – helping them make the most of the money they’ve won and continue growing their businesses without poor cash flow holding them back.”The investment round was led by Lorimer Ventures, an early-stage US VC firm “focused on the B2B SaaS and fintech space, with participation from existing investors including Y Combinator, Hexa (eFounders) and Hedosophia.”This additional investment underscores Upflow’s commitment “to prioritizing our vision, set out from the very beginning.”Alex Louisy, CEO of Upflow, said:“Payment has always been a key part of our vision for Upflow. Our existing SaaS offering helps finance leaders optimize their accounts receivable. Now, with this launch we’re modernizing the payment rails B2B businesses use to collect money from their customers. Modern payment methods (think online and autopay) already exist, but they’re still very hard to implement for B2B companies. That’s the challenge we’re solving today – in a simple, yet powerful add-on to our SaaS offering.”Here at Upflow theyt believe that “the actual act of paying is central to a positive customer experience.”While companies are very good at going above and beyond to “create a smooth customer experience in their sales and support processes, that positive experience often hits a snag when it comes to receiving payment. Emails and invoices get lost, payments get delayed, and frustration builds between the company and its customer.”Payments by Upflow positions them “as a ‘Financial Relationship Management’ tool.”Their vision is to use technology to enable merchants “to make the act of paying a positive experience that fosters repeat purchase, loyalty, and brand love.”With integration within the existing Upflow platform, their new payments offering “will allow merchants to instantly provide online payment options to all of their customers, tailored to the complex requirements of B2B commerce.”This capital increase is a strong testament to their vision and “demonstrates the trust we enjoy from new and existing investors.”The new funding will provide the resources they need “to reach their goals and bring B2B payment online, at a global scale.”