In a very 2020s twist of irony, treasury management-as-a-service (MaaS) company Scrypt AI has announced that its software platform — which can process invoices without a human ever needing to set eyes on them — has just completed over $1 billion worth of transactions. According to research firm Ardent Partners, the average cost to process an invoice — including overhead — was $11.57 in 2018. Considering how much volume flows through some firms’ AP departments, eliminating that cost center could contribute mightily to the bottom line.
The interesting thing about Scrypt AI is that it can sit on top of other existing payment processing software packages, such as Voyager, a property management software tool by Yardi. This eliminates the need for a company to start from scratch, further enhancing its savings.
“Scrypt AI’s intelligent invoice coding solution utilizes machine learning and AI automation to add and manage invoice payments within most popular enterprise resource planning software platforms — solving a critical challenge within the payables component of treasury management,” says a release about the company’s billion-dollar milestone. “Whether businesses receive invoices digitally or in the mail, Scrypt AI can help them automate payables at a time when they need it most.”
You can think of Scrypt AI as software that watches other software — in much the same way our robot overlords will one day watch us. Once installed, the service basically takes a day to read through all of the POs and invoices stored in a company’s existing system and uses AI to learn patterns and routines.
This is not the first time we’ve seen artificial intelligence (AI) make a big impact on back-office functions. During the pandemic, call centers were quick to sign up for IBM’s Watson Assistant to help replace workers who were no longer able to show up for their shifts. According to Time, about 100 new clients began using the chatbot to help field customer complaints and requests during the COVID crisis.
Nor will this be the last of this kind of adaptation. eCommerce platform Oberlo assembled an impressive list of statistics regarding the adaptation of AI. Among them: the number of businesses using AI grew 270 percent between 2015-2019; nine in 10 businesses have investments in artificial intelligence; and more than half of businesses report a boost in productivity after bringing AI systems on board. Research firm IDC says that revenues in the AI market are expected to grow 16.4 percent in 2021 to a total of $327.5 billion.
Nor is it the last we will hear of the intersection between AI and the CFO’s office. On March 30 HighRadius, an AI-powered order-to-cash and treasury solution, announced it has raised $300 million in a Series C funding round, valuing it at $3.1 billion, according to a press release. The new capital will be used for fueling product innovation as well as boosting the global go-to-market reach, the release stated.
“Our goal has always been to build a long-lasting business that outlasts all of us,” HighRadius Founder and CEO Sashi Narahari said in the release. “I look forward to working with such high-quality long-term investors who share a common vision of transforming the office of the CFO using a combination of artificial intelligence built on top of connected finance workspaces and embedded analytics.”
The company claimed over $1 billion in valuation, after a $125 million Series B round.
There are hundreds of companies using HighRadius for accounts receivable (AR) and treasury management services, and the AI-based systems help to optimize working capital. The HighRadius Rivana AI engine allows for automation of routine tasks. The company’s Freeda Digital Assistance powers the company’s touch- and voice-based Autonomous Receivables software. The platform’s AI-powered cash forecasting helps to prevent poor financing decisions.