Tradeshift Go Hits $2.5 Billion In Charge Volume This Year

Tradeshift is a market leader in e-invoicing and accounts payable automation.  In recent times, the company has no doubt become a key innovator in the B2B marketplaces due to the seamless, effective and efficient manner they provide access to supplier financing. Its cloud-based platform allows both buyers and suppliers to quickly digitise the financial process which enhances payable workflows. This convenient usability is reflected in the success of its virtual credit card product, Tradeshift Go, which is on track to process $2.5 billion in charge volume this year – a sixfold increase over 2020.

Why Has Tradeshift Go Been So Effective? – With signs of such explosive growth and an income of more than 2,000 customers, Tradeshift Go has globally established itself as one of the largest Fintech card programs. Scale of this size for any company is never down to chance, so why has Tradeshift Go managed to capitalise during this period?

The COVID pandemic, as for many companies that embraced the digitisation of the world, definitely existed as a factor for Tradeshift Go’s success. Accenture, a global professional services company, estimates that the overall spending on business credit cards in the US will climb from $625 billion in 2019 to $1.1 trillion in 2024. This is a staggering increase and the switch to remote working has definitely triggered the rapid acceleration in commercial card usage by businesses of all sizes. 

A recent survey by RPMG Research Corporation found that commercial cards were the primary method used by employees to make business-related purchases. Forty percent of organizations surveyed by RPMG said they planned to increase their use of Virtual Cards during the pandemic. This shows the changing culture towards spending and credit. Don Frazier, VP of Seller Success at Tradeshift, commented that ‘Covid has turned digital transformation from an ambition to an imperative, but some businesses are more able than others when it comes to executing the transformation. While Tradeshift Go predated the pandemic, our decision to provide the highest level of dynamic support is borne out by the feedback we’ve received from our customers over the last two years.’ Tradeshift are very aware of what it is their potential customers are doing, catering to their wants and needs.

Comments from the CEO, Christian Lanng – But how is it that Tradeshift Go has emerged as a leader in this industry against its competitors? Christian Lanng, CEO at Tradeshift, seemed to suggest that it was down to the company’s comprehensive platform strategy, which combined SaaS, Fintech and marketplaces. ‘The virality we’re now seeing in key areas across our business is rooted in the connectivity that comes from bringing buyers and sellers together on a single global network. The more we embed access to value-added services like Go, the more compelling it becomes for businesses to join the network. It’s a virtuous circle that brings with it opportunities for massive scale and diversification.’ Accessibility, financial inclusion and complete transparency for everybody has definitely become a focus for the Fintech community, and it appears that Tradeshift Go is perfectly coinciding with this evolving emphasis. 

Lang went on to further comment on how Tradeshift Go specifically exists as a unique solution itself, aside from the general market characteristics at play. Tradeshift Go, to Lanng, is effective because it doesn’t result in both enterprises and small businesses losing control or security after implementing the corporate card program to their systems. ‘There are no mystery charges, missing receipts or surprises cannibalising the budget, like there are with traditional physical cards. Our enterprise clients appreciate the predictability and small business owners like that they can maintain the perks of a single account.’ I think that phrase, ‘cannibalising the budget’, is very powerful – so often, the usage of credit can feel daunting and powerless, yet Tradeshift Go ensures flexibility in a clear manner suited to the user. ‘Budget managers can issue pre-approved, encrypted virtual cards in seconds. Purchase requests approved in Go are pre-coded with a business justification and accounting code. That information stays with the purchase all the way through the accounting process, meaning there is no need to reconcile anything when the monthly credit card bill comes in. This allows organizations to eliminate risk, control tail spend and streamline expenses.’ 

Frazier neatly summarised the specific advantages for virtual cards beyond that of being a replacement for plastic: ‘they are about avoiding business disruption by minimizing/eliminating exposure to fraud, giving them instant ability to proactively manage card spend, and modernizing/simplifying what have historically been arduous and time-consuming processes such as reconciliation and chasing receipts.’ This reinforces the logistical benefits that the venture stimulates.

Conclusion – Tradeshift’s claim that their vision is to connect every company in the world. In doing so, they will further the economic  opportunities for everybody. With Tradeshift Go, it does seem that the walls and worries, particularly in the market for credit, have begun to be torn down. The result is that today, the Tradeshift platform is home to a rapidly growing community of buyers and sellers operating in more than 190 countries with huge popularity, approval, and signs of further growth to come.