“Today, Plastiq , a rapidly growing Kleiner Perkins-backed fintech for Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs), announced the launch of its next generation product – Plastiq Pay. Plastiq Pay helps SMBs improve their cash flow at a time when inflation is threatening their very survival, saves teams precious time otherwise spent manually managing vendor payments, and connects SMBs instantly to affordable working capital. A new companion mobile app rounds out the offering, enabling SMBs to run their business finances on the go.”

“Raistone today announced a collaboration with Mastercard set to simplify business-to-business (B2B) finance payments and speed up access to working capital for small- and-medium-sized businesses (“SMBs”). Using Mastercard’s virtual card technology, Raistone will tap into secure payment innovation to streamline finance approval processes that can exclude SMBs from accessing essential funds needed to sustain and scale their business. This innovative use of virtual cards promotes diversity and inclusion by extending convenient financial tools to the companies that need them most.”

“JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) launched the Diverse Supplier Grant Initiative, a program aimed at providing Black-, Hispanic-, and Latino-owned businesses with the access to capital they need to secure corporate contracts. Small and diverse businesses often find it cost-prohibitive to meet industry requirements like cyber security, insurance, and bonding when bidding for new corporate business.”

“Uber (NYSE: UBER ) and Visa (NYSE: V ) today announced Grants for Growth, a program that will provide $1 million in grant funding to small businesses in 10 U.S. cities that are currently active on Uber Eats. The program will be administered by Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). Focused on restaurant recovery and entrepreneurship, the program was created to support merchants when they need it most.”

“Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU), the global technology platform that makes TurboTax, QuickBooks, Mint, Credit Karma, and Mailchimp, today introduced QuickBooks Checking . First launched in 2020 as QuickBooks Cash, QuickBooks Checking has transformed business banking into an active money-management hub that delivers greater cash flow predictability and financial control for small businesses.”

“Payment app providers will have to start reporting to the IRS a user’s business transactions if, in aggregate, they total $600 or more for the year. A business transaction is defined as payment for a good or service.Prior to this change, app providers only had to send the IRS a Form 1099-K if an individual account had at least 200 business transactions in a year and if those transactions combined resulted in gross payments of at least $20,000.”

“JPMorgan Chase serves more than 4 million small businesses and in 2020 processed more than 27 billion transactions with a value of $1.4 trillion — but these days, that’s simply not enough. When the actual payment is commoditized, merchants care less about how big their provider is and more about what it can do. By combining Chase Merchant Services with WePay , a fintech the bank purchased in 2017, Chase is pairing its traditional payment acceptance services with newer digital tools that address merchants’ other business needs. The new line of business, called Chase Payment Solutions, launches Thursday.”

“Consumers pay more than $30 billion in banking fees each year. Through this integration, Credit Karma and QuickBooks hope to keep more money in the pockets of hard working small business employees, giving them the option to deposit their paycheck into a Credit Karma Money Spend account2. Now, employees paid through QuickBooks Payroll can seamlessly sign up to have their paycheck automatically deposited into a Credit Karma Money account.”

“ZenBusiness , a one-stop business management platform with the mission to make starting, running, and growing a successful business simple and accessible, today introduced ZenBusiness Money, an all-inclusive payments and invoicing app that simplifies merchant services so entrepreneurs can focus on what matters most – running a successful business. ZenBusiness Money allows users to send and customize invoices, accept credit card and bank transfer payments, and manage their income all within an easy-to-use dashboard across their mobile, tablet, and desktop devices.”

“Klarna , a leading global retail bank, payments and shopping service, today announced the first group to receive grants from the recently-launched Klarna Small Business Impact Initiative to help SMBs recover from a loss of business due to the pandemic. Recipients will be awarded a portion of $4.5 million in Klarna services, including one year of fee-free payments and $40,000 of free media that extends marketing exposure across Klarna’s ecosystem.”

“Long waits for merchandise deliveries and crippling costs are hobbling the efforts of small and midsize businesses across the U.S. to benefit from the economic recovery after a difficult year. With retail giants like Walmart Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. rushing to restock to meet booming demand from U.S. consumers, smaller competitors are battling over dwindling cargo space on boxships coming in from Asia. Those who want immediate shipments often must pay about three times the going freight cost , according to brokers and cargo owners.”

“Digital payments players are going to be competing hard for small businesses as they emerge from the hardships of the pandemic with new ways of selling. It just isn’t clear what game they will be playing. On Wednesday, PayPal Holdings said it was bringing its Zettle product to the U.S. It will offer point-of-sale hardware and related services such as invoicing to the likes of U.S. coffee shops and other small to medium-size physical merchants and likely will compete with what Square, Fiserv ’s Clover and others have been offering. And it isn’t a small market: Bernstein analyst Harshita Rawat estimates that sales by merchants under $100 million in annualized sales are a $4 trillion market with hundreds of legacy payments providers.”

“Today, Deluxe (NYSE: DLX), a Trusted Payments and Business Technology™ company, announced a collaboration with Microsoft to bring the Deluxe small business human resources (HR) and payroll solutions to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. The collaboration brings together two trusted companies, Microsoft and Deluxe, to further accelerate financial and accounting solutions for small businesses. A comprehensive cloud-based business management solution, Dynamics 365 Business Central connects teams across finance, sales, service, and operations within a single easy-to-use application.”

“American Express , best known for its array of personal and corporate cards , is making a push into territory held by banks and a growing list of fintech players. The card company is launching its first checking account for small businesses by leaning on technology acquired last year in the acquisition of online lender Kabbage , CNBC has learned.   The product, called Kabbage Checking, is a no-fee digital account that pays 1.1% interest on up to $100,000 in balances. It includes mobile check deposits, a debit card, bill pay and targeted savings features as well as access to a network of ATMs and retail locations for cash transactions.”

“Small businesses across the country have been pounded by the pandemic. Entrepreneurs have been forced to make drastic cuts and pivot to new business models to keep going. Financial aid, though, is what has kept the lights on. But today, many sources, including private foundations and the federal government, that once offered loans and grants have either closed their financial aid programs or put them on hold.”

“Kabbage Inc., a provider of cash-flow solutions to small business, announced the launch of a custom loans program for Kabbage Payments customers. The program allows small businesses to get anywhere from a three-day to 45-day loan that they may repay in full or allocate 100% of Kabbage Pay revenue toward the balance.  Custom loans have a one-time fee starting at  0.1% and pricing is adjusted dynamically, according to a company release.”

“Visa (NYSE:V), and Wave , the financial platform for millions of small business owners, today announced a new, limited release payments solution that aims to transform the way small businesses manage their cash flow and provide merchants quicker access to funds. Utilizing Worldpay’s acquiring platform, Wave’s new Instant Payouts feature integrates Visa Direct, Visa’s real-time1 push payments solution, into Wave’s comprehensive small business financial platform, enabling faster access to money earned.”