BizPay

Businesses have long grappled with the challenges of overseeing expenditures beyond office premises. The complexities of tracking expenses, ensuring adherence to budgets, and maintaining transparency have persisted as timeless hurdles. Enter BizPay, a revolutionary product at the forefront of reshaping the paradigm of expense management. Born from the vision of Mr Mikdad Merchant, BizPay emerges as a transformative force in the realm of corporate expense management, offering businesses a holistic solution to an age-old problem.

BizPay offers a comprehensive suite of services catering to diverse corporate needs, including an Expense Management System (EMS) provided as a Service through a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Complementing this, the platform provides Corporate Prepaid Cards and a Digital Wallet, enhancing its capabilities for users. The inclusion of a Travel Booking and Management module enriches the platform’s offerings, facilitating seamless arrangements for flights, hotels, and bus bookings. Looking ahead, BizPay aims to broaden its scope by introducing additional offerings through the cross-selling of partner products, such as accounting software, HRMS suites, and Insurance Tech products.

Revolutionising Business Expenditure Management

BizPay, with its vision set on a revolutionary transformation in how businesses handle expenditures, envisions a future where manual entry is obsolete, providing 360-degree visibility and absolute control over expenses for businesses of all sizes.

The mission of BizPay is to craft SaaS-Fintech products that seamlessly blend the convenience of enterprise SaaS solutions with cutting-edge payments technology, offering businesses a fully integrated and comprehensive solution. By combining the best of both worlds, BizPay strives to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of financial management.

Central to BizPay’s ethos are its core values, emphasising the significance of cultivating a positive workplace culture for overall success. Drawing inspiration from the movie Jungle Book, the company embraces the mantra that “The strength of the wolf is the pack, and the strength of the pack is the wolf.” This underscores the importance of teamwork, a principle that all BizPayites are encouraged to embody. The core values encompass zeal, intelligence, discipline, presentability, organisation, and a strong team player mentality.

The Genesis of BizPay

Mr Mikdad Merchant, the Founder & CEO of BizPay, brings a wealth of experience as a seasoned Chartered Accountant with over 13 years of expertise in accounting and auditing across diverse scales of businesses. During his tenure, he identified a significant challenge in the domain of employee expenses incurred beyond the office premises, including remote sites/projects or business travel. This area, often laden with losses, errors, and potential frauds, emerged as a substantial source of financial leakage. The absence of visibility into these expenditures frequently resulted in exceeding budgetary limits.

In his pursuit to address this issue, Mr Mikdad explored various tools available at the time but found none to be satisfactory. Meanwhile, his experience in a mid-sized company exposed him to the pitfalls of ERP implementation failure. Fueled by his intrinsic interest and enthusiasm for the technology realm, Mr Mikdad undertook the ambitious endeavour of crafting a bespoke business management tool. This journey involved late nights dedicated to learning coding from books and online resources. Progressing from an Excel-based VBA solution, he went on to develop an MS Access application and eventually a commercially sold Bill of Material tracker with an embedded cutting optimiser.

Having identified a substantial gap in the market for expense management and drawing on his experience as a Chartered Accountant, coupled with his passion for technology-driven problem-solving, Mr Mikdad amalgamated his skills. The result was the inception of BizPay in September 2021, a testament to his commitment to bridging the divide between financial expertise and innovative technological solutions.

The Journey So Far

Fueled by Mikdad’s decision to address the challenges in business spend management, the journey towards BizPay involved meticulous steps, from conceptualisation to the development of a comprehensive SaaS-Fintech product.

The initial phase focused on establishing vital partnerships with banks and setting up a robust Banking Eco-System platform. Attention was devoted to KYC, procedural, and compliance processes to ensure a secure foundation. The design and prototyping phase prioritised user-centric solutions, with market testing and feedback collection from diverse stakeholders, including CFOs, HR heads, on-site employees, operation heads, drivers, and workers, to ensure all stakeholders and users are kept in mind during the design and development process.

The prototype underwent refinement, and the right tech team was assembled for product development. Seamless integration with banks was a priority, requiring constant coordination for a smooth SaaS-Fintech interplay. The development process unfolded, accompanied by continuous research and development, along with adept problem-solving to overcome obstacles. Maintaining focus on timelines, the product was completed and rigorously tested in a sandbox environment. The pivotal moment arrived with the product going live, onboarding the first corporate customer and marking the beginning of a recurring cycle. Training and ongoing support were pivotal, accompanied by a commitment to regular feedback and continuous product improvement.

Owing to its innovative approach and demonstrated success in revolutionising corporate expense management, BizPay has garnered support from investors such as Inflexion Point Ventures and Growth91.

How BizPay Works?

BizPay operates as an automated, bank-integrated, and mobile-centric expense management software suite encompassing corporate prepaid cards, Digital Wallets, apps, and services.

Upon corporate registration, the platform provides a dedicated Virtual account. Employees receive individual wallets, with corporates funding the virtual pool account. Using the mobile/web app, employees request funds for their wallets/cards, undergoing a meticulous multi-stage approval process. Upon approval, the wallet is instantly funded, enabling employees to make diverse transactions such as card swipes, online purchases, QR code scans, and UPI payments.

All expenditures are automatically documented and categorised by the app, distinguishing expenses like meals or fuel based on transaction locations. Employees can conveniently attach supporting proofs, such as bills and receipts, through their mobile phones. By consolidating expenses into reports, employees submit them for approval, initiating a streamlined workflow. Approved expenses seamlessly integrate into accounting systems through BizPay’s integrations.

For businesses opting for expense reimbursement rather than providing advances, BizPay proves to be a transformative tool. Employees can self-fund their wallets, making categorised spends that are automatically recorded, eliminating the need for manual data entry. This ensures timely and accurate employee claims, providing approvers and accounts teams with a transparent audit trail for each transaction.

Administrators and CXOs wield the capability to set spending limits and enforce expense policies, ensuring adherence to budgets and preventing overspending. The end result is complete visibility and control over all business expenditures, making BizPay a game changer in the realm of corporate expense management.

Modern Solutions for Age-Old Challenges

The challenge BizPay set to address is a timeless issue that has persisted through the ages, and solutions for the same have been developed in the past, including Corporate Cards. However, the recent surge in UPI usage and the ubiquity of QR codes for digital payments at merchants has surpassed card usage by over tenfold, and this trend continues to rise. The challenge of managing corporate expenses through digital wallets, previously hindered by technological limitations, has now become feasible due to favourable regulatory changes and developments in the UPI space. Capitalising on these advancements, a comprehensive solution was crafted by integrating QR code-based payments with corporate cards and digital wallets. This full-stack product offers a holistic approach to managing business spending, ensuring that every expenditure, regardless of its amount, can be digitised and meticulously tracked. This innovation translates to zero wastage and substantial savings in time, effort, and money for businesses.

Customised Excellence in Every Solution

Mr Mikdad shares, “While all businesses incur expenses, certain industries face unique complexities when managing expenditures outside the office for regular operations. The challenge lies in ensuring expenses align with budgets, particularly for sites/projects to remain profitable.”

Recognising the inadequacy of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, BizPay takes a tailored stance to truly add value to businesses. The belief is that each business is distinct, and their expense management needs are unique. As a solution, BizPay offers industry-specific implementations designed to tackle the particular challenges of diverse sectors.

Key industry segments benefiting from BizPay’s specialised solutions include Engineering, Procurement, and Commissioning (EPC) and Contracting, Construction and Infrastructure, Logistics, Pharma and Pharma Distribution, Multi Outlet and Multi Brand Retail, Professional Services, Field Support, FMCG and Consumer Durables, Distribution lead businesses, and Not For Profits and NGOs. While this list is indicative, BizPay adheres to a “Standardised Engineering and Customised Implementation” approach, ensuring that each business derives maximum value. This method not just sets BizPay apart from its competitors but also ensures that users experience a comprehensive solution tailored precisely to their needs.

The combination of standardised efficiency and personalised implementation positions BizPay as a provider of holistic solutions, catering to the unique requirements of each user. The user-friendly system caters to various stakeholders, including employees, managers, accounts teams, HR teams, CXOs, and Admins, facilitating ease of use and realising a greater Return on Investments.

Defining Success Through Customer Value

For us at BizPay, success is not merely a metric; it’s a reflection of the value we bring to our customers. We gauge our success by observing the tangible benefits our users experience—savings in time, effort, and money. It’s truly gratifying to see customers leveraging BizPay to meticulously track expenses, exercise control over wastages, and realise substantial savings. Witnessing these positive outcomes is where our real satisfaction lies.

Attaining Sustainable Growth in Turbulent Times

In the face of recent economic fluctuations, prioritising cash conservation and a focus on sustainable unit economics is the only way to thrive. The approach emphasises ensuring profitability at the unit level for every onboarded customer. Simultaneously, rigorous control over overheads is crucial to ensure a realistic and attainable break-even point. Mr Mikdad asserts,

“Monitoring the LTV/CAC ratio involves comparing the Average Lifetime Value of a customer to the cost of acquiring that customer. Initially estimating and subsequently calculating and monitoring this metric are essential steps. While a benchmark of at least 5 is recommended, what constitutes “good” depends on industry sector and market dynamics. In our case, we adhere to a benchmark of 20, aligning with our specific considerations and market dynamics,” explains Mr Mikdad.

Navigating Setbacks

In the realm of startups, acknowledging that obstacles are an inherent part of the journey is crucial. This acceptance is what becomes the anchor, preventing frustration from overshadowing the determination to move forward.

Mr Mikdad recalls, “At every turn, challenges awaited us. Building the right tech team for BizPay emerged as a monumental task. Fortunately, a clear understanding of our team’s expectations allowed us to discern who aligned with our core values and contributed real value. Despite some initial missteps, we rectified our course before it was too late. Regulatory changes, a constant in our offering of corporate cards and digital wallets, demanded adaptability. We evolved our processes and management methodologies, seamlessly incorporating regulatory shifts into our core thought process.”

In the initial phases of BizPay, typical of any business, timelines stretched, and costs exceeded estimates. Survival necessitated a constant focus on the right metrics, coupled with a readiness to adapt as circumstances demanded. BizPay’s ability to navigate these challenges with agility and foresight is a testament to its resilience and adaptability in the ever-evolving startup landscape.

Mr Mikdad encapsulates the essence of BizPay’s journey by emphasising