The “Growth Opportunities in the Asia-Pacific B2B Payments Market, Forecast to 2025” report that profiled B2B payment solution providers including MasterCard highlighted that the B2B payments market growth in the region will be underpinned by a growing B2B eCommerce market and an increase in financial technology (fintech) participants. By collaborating with technology and software industry leaders, enterprises are now adopting technologies such as a hyperledger framework, open API, and encryption to help them achieve and deliver payment automation that is secured and resilient. 

The recent SAP and MasterCard collaboration is one example of how companies leverage digital solutions to propel B2B payment growth. MasterCard, one of the electronic payments industry leaders, has ventured into advancing its expense and invoice management processes for enterprise and government clients in the Asia Pacific. By selecting German software giant SAP as its technology partner, the global payment technology vendor aims to provide banks, companies, and government agencies enhanced visibility on their corporate card transactions through SAP Concur expense and invoice management solutions.

Sharing about the SAP and MasterCard alliance, President, Product Management of MasterCard, Asia Pacific Mostafa Sabet said:

“This powerful pairing offers the best of both worlds by combining SAP Concur’s expense management expertise with MasterCard’s global payments network, extensive partnerships, industry-leading security, and comprehensive solutions and services.” 

“In today’s competitive environment and rapidly evolving digital economy, MasterCard’s integration with SAP Concur solutions will deliver the tools and insights that businesses and governments need to control costs and manage expenses tightly, transparently, and efficiently,” Sabet added.

SAP Concur Expense Management Expertise 

Today, more than ever, businesses and governments are actively looking for intelligent solutions that would future-proof spend management. As the world’s leading provider of integrated travel and expense management services and solutions, many businesses tap SAP Concur to help them automate their expense and invoice processes.

The SAP and MasterCard collaboration offer APAC customers the opportunity to improve payment visibility, optimise credit lines, and leverage data through industry-leading transaction solutions. More importantly, the partnership intends to deliver an excellent customer experience by leading the alignment between commercial card providers and their clients. MasterCard’s issuing customers can now look into better corporate payments processing and leverage SAP Concur solutions to business and government clients.

With regards to business travel, it is projected to have a tremendous rebound as travel policies take shape and once restrictions are lifted. As corporate travels ease up, businesses can benefit from SAP Concur solutions integration in commercial card transactions under corporate travel booking- ensuring faster reconciliation and payments while strengthening cost control and compliance.

Having the most comprehensive portfolio of payment brands in the world, MasterCard together with SAP Concur delivers Web-based corporate financial solutions and expense management solutions– such as travel and entertainment, purchasing/procurement, fleet, and telephony– to MasterCard’s member financial institutions. SAP and MasterCard empower companies to make informed financial decisions by providing customers information on spending trends and identifying potential cost savings.

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Following the recent launches of SAP.iO Foundries’ accelerator programs in Berlin, San Francisco, and Tokyo, SAP.iO Foundry Singapore kicked off its program focused on FinTech, spend management, and COVID-19 recovery.

The SAP.iO Foundry Singapore Fall 2020 program cohort includes 6 business-to-business (B2B) startups that are expected to support the investment of SAP customers in SAP Concur solutions for travel and expense management. The accelerator program’s cohort is also comprised of several startups that are founded or led by female entrepreneurs, much like the scenario of the inaugural SAP.iO Foundry Singapore program in 2019 and a representation of the SAP.iO No Boundaries initiative. 

Andy Watson, SAP Concur Senior Vice President and General Manager, Asia Pacific Japan and Greater China, said:

“By helping these enterprising startups in the SAP.iO program scale, we enable our customers to benefit from the value of some of these unique solutions and emerging technologies when they become available in SAP Concur App Center.”

The SAP.iO Foundries, SAP’s global network of equity-free startup accelerators, are created to help promising startups integrate with SAP solutions and accelerate their entry into a curated, inclusive ecosystem whose offerings can be easily accessed and deployed by SAP customers. 

The Cohort

During the 13-week program, the chosen startups will have access to curated mentorship and exposure to SAP technology and application programming interfaces (APIs) as well as collaboration opportunities with SAP customers across over 25 industries. 

Below are the selected startups for the SAP.iO Foundry Singapore Fall 2020 program:

• CardUp is a credit card enablement platform, enabling the payment or collection of big expenses using a credit card, where cards are not accepted today. The platform allows users to shift domestic and international payments made by cash, cheque, or bank transfers onto their credit cards. 
• LuggAgent creates a standardised international luggage delivery and tracking platform by widely applying radio frequency identification (RFID) while working with logistics services providers in varying countries. LuggAgent is available in over 200 cities worldwide.
• MatchMove is a Singapore-based Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform that enables users to move digital cash securely, allowing easy spending, sending, and lending. MatchMove won the category Best Payments Innovation of the Year of the 4th Payments and Cards Awards 2019 held in Mumbai.
• Railsbank is a BaaS platform that provides FinTech companies with a range of wholesale banking services, including IBANs, receiving money, sending money, converting money, direct debit, issuing cards, and managing credit through APIs. The founders of the London-based company, Nigel Verdon and Clive Mitchell, have been in the FinTech industry since the 1990s.
• Staple offers cognitive technology that can read, interpret, and extract data from business documents faster, more affordably and more precisely than humans, at scale, and in any language. Its unique interface allows viewing and sorting of documents with ease, intuitively.
• Timeshifter is the world’s first platform for circadian (body rhythm) shifting and helps businesses empower their travelling employees to create their jet lag plans. Timeshifter translates circadian neuroscience into applications that enable people to live modern lives while staying in sync with their natural circadian rhythm to optimise safety, health, and performance. In June 2018, the company launched its first product and now the most-downloaded and highest-rated jet lag app in the world –The Jet Lag App.

Ang Chin Tah, Vice President of Singapore Economic Development Board explained how the COVID-19 pandemic has compelled many businesses to embrace digital transformation in search of growth. He added:

“The Singapore Economic Development Board is glad to support the SAP.iO Foundry Singapore Fall 2020 acceleration program, which will bring startups from all around the world to Singapore to develop products that meet the needs of the new operating environment.

Singapore’s established base of industry leaders in finance and digital, as well as connectedness to regional markets, make us a great testing ground for their ideas. It is a wonderful new addition to our thriving ecosystem.”

The SAP.iO Foundry Singapore Fall 2020 program will culminate at the SAP.iO Cohort Demo Day in December 2020.

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