Venture capital and FinTech are known for making big, and often risky, bets.That has been the traditional story for years, and one that kept B2B frequently lagging behind the consumer marketplace in terms of innovation. However, against an uncertain and dynamic operating backdrop, money and innovation are increasingly flowing to the enterprise back office thanks to a rising generation of FinTechs and startups focused on areas like accounts payable and receivable automation, cyber security, working capital solutions and more.Even corporate event planning is getting the startup treatment, with Paris-based business planning startup Naboo announcing a $21 million Series A funding round Wednesday (Jan. 29).The corporate event marketplace “is very fragmented and there is no automation when it comes to event planning,” the announcement said. “Naboo is aiming to capture this opportunity by bringing a digital-first and automated solution to the corporate event industry.”The same story — tackling a fragmented market with automation and digital-first solutions — is progressively playing out across the B2B landscape.Read also: How APIs Bridge Modern and Legacy B2B Payment ArchitecturesB2B Payments Are Finally Catching Up — and FinTechs Are Leading the ChargeOnce overlooked, the enterprise back office is now a hotbed of innovation, as businesses seek greater efficiency, security and visibility into their financial operations. FinTechs are closing the gap between consumer and B2B experiences, bringing real-time payments, artificial intelligence-powered automation and embedded finance into workflows that have traditionally been slow, fragmented and manual.Several forces are converging to accelerate digital transformation in B2B finance. Rising interest rates have made working capital efficiency a top priority for chief financial officers, increasing demand for automation tools that improve cash flow visibility and liquidity management. At the same time, supply chain disruptions, geopolitical uncertainty and heightened cybersecurity risks have made resilience and risk mitigation central concerns for global enterprises.The marketplace is responding to unmet B2B needs. Open-source financial infrastructure provider Formance said Wednesday that it raised $21 million in a Series A funding round to grow its Ledger and other solutions that help developers build financial flows and products.Also on Wednesday, Gallabox raised $3.5 million in a seed round to strengthen the capabilities and expand the geographic footprint of its platform that enables small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to use AI agents to automate their communications.WiseLayer said Tuesday (Jan. 28) that it raised $7.2 million to continue developing its own task-specific AI agents designed for finance and accounting teams. WiseLayer’s “digital workforce” includes six agents specializing in accruals and revenue recognition; discrepancies and financial anomalies; bank reconciliation
