Anchor automates B2B billing and payments to bring our clients an end-to-end solution enabling them to focus on getting their work done, not on the time-consuming paperwork. On our platform, companies can set up “live online agreements” with their customers that codifies their business relationship. The platform integrates with the technology stack of the service provider and sources in their customer’s payment information. From there, it automatically generates the invoices based on the pre-agreed billing schedule or specific deliverables and sends them in a prearranged procedure.
As soon as the client releases the funds, the platform automatically collects them on the service provider’s behalf and handles the invoice reconciliation.
The idea behind the platform is to take away a major pain point that every business has to face, as manual billing and payment management takes a lot of time and human resources on both the sending and receiving sides. Our platform enables any business providing billable services to zoom in on what it does best and leave the paperwork to our solution.
How did you come up with the idea for the company?
As a serial founder and entrepreneur, I know first-hand just how frustrating and time-consuming B2B billing and payments can be. This is twice the case when the company is in its nascency. You want to be focusing on the product, on fostering growth, on brainstorming ideas for marketing, anything other than the invoices and bank statements. It’s just such a colossal waste of time for every stakeholder.
The truth is, things don’t have to be this complicated, I thought. The service provider wants to do the best work they can and get their due compensation. The client wants to get the job done in the best way possible and pay for it. Neither wants to be filling out the invoices and handling banking documents manually, which exposes them to the risks of fraud, errors, and late payments. So what they want is perfectly aligned, all it takes is an all-around mechanism that will turn their interaction into a seamless process with no handwork involved.
And this is how Anchor came to be. It takes aim at real-world needs and challenges that any business is bound to face. It takes the pressure off both sides in a B2B relationship by ensuring that their collaboration always follows the pre-determined rules and removing the risk of human error from the billing processes.
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How has the company evolved during the pandemic?
Before the pandemic, Anchor was in its early stage, where we only had an initial idea of what we wanted to do. At that point, it was crucial to get to know the needs and expectations of our future clientele to pin down the direction we would move in, so I would be bouncing between the U.S. and Israel every two weeks or so to speak to prospective clients. We were making great progress, but with the pandemic, the playbook changed.
Soon enough, traveling was pretty much off the table due to the border closures, lockdowns, and other safety measures. This also seemed to have prompted many to take on a more conservative outlook for the business. With so much uncertainty, nobody wanted to consider new products or make new connections. We had to come up with new ways to link up with our prospective customers and foster our ties.
Soon, though, the trend for digitalization began to gain momentum. Everything was moving online, including work and communication, and people became more open to relying on various tech solutions in their personal and professional lives. This gave us a great boost, as businesses moving online need a fintech infrastructure in place to be able to operate. As more people realized just how much time and effort our platform saves them, we began to build up the momentum again, and we are very happy with the traction that Anchor has got this far.
What can we hope to see from Anchor in the future?
In the long run, of course, nothing short of an all-around revolution of how businesses manage their payments! In the more immediate future, though, we will be announcing quite a few exciting partnerships set to be unveiled in the coming months. Right now, we are predominantly working on expanding our footprint in the U.S., but soon enough, we will enter the European market as well.
