Changing patterns in spend categories, increasing focus on supply chain control and compliance, and increasingly decentralised business operations are creating an opportunity for new entrants in the ‘intake-to-pay’ category - the set of workflows that cover the procurement of goods and services from the initial request for a purchase (intake) to the final payment to the supplier/vendor (AP).

We think this is a c.$3bn market opportunity addressable in the next 5-10 years by new entrants, as procurement and finance functions take an increasingly strategic and business-critical organisational role, with demand from the mid-market for appropriate solutions.

First generation players including Ariba and Coupa have made headway in the enterprise segment, but for most organisations the intake-to-pay process and corresponding spend/vendor data has been fragmented across the ERP, spreadsheets, and point solutions. This makes it challenging for procurement and finance leaders to collaborate, manage vendors, and control spend - and makes purchase requests a significant painpoint and time-consuming overhead for the wider organisation.

We are seeing a wave of startups emerge in both Europe and the US looking to address these challenges, with a variety of different flavours to the emphasis and direction in which they are building their product suites. Some - like Zip and Pivot - are seeking to take on the entire intake-to-pay process with a clear focus on managing the full end-to-end workflow for finance teams, extending as far as card issuance for expense management, or treasury management in the case of Payflows. Others - like Omnea - are more clearly focused further upstream on intake, vendor management and supply chain risk and compliance, working alongside third party accounts payable systems.

For a more extensive view of the mid-market ERP landscape today, see our pieces from 2024 here.