Israeli startup Melio Payments, which develops payment systems for small businesses, comes out from under the radar, revealing that it has raised an impressive $144 million since the company was established. What’s even more impressive is the fact that about $128 million of the funds were raised in the past 6 months. Company reports estimate that based on the last funding round, Melio is valued at $700 million, steadily on their way to Unicorn status.

If mailing in a check went digital

Israeli fintech startup Melio Payments,  developed a digital payment system between small businesses. The service, which is currently only operational in the U.S., enables small businesses the luxury of paying suppliers directly through an easy-to-use digital service. Melio’s system comes as a modern solution looking to substitute the archaic mail-in check ways of yesterday.

The fintech company's service enables small business owners the ability to scan invoices with their phones or enter the details manually and determine the payment date for a certain supplier. Melio’s proprietary app automatically bills the invoice sum directly from the business account and then based on the supplier’s preference, either sends out a check or a wire transfer.

According to the company founders Ziv Paz, Matan Bar, and Ilan Atias, the idea for the new company came to them when they found out that the most popular way of payment was sending a check through the mail. Which is brilliant if you think about it, especially when you realize that we’re talking about an industry rolling anywhere between $14-$18 trillion a year. So yeah, I’ll take “two methods of transferring paper that are soon to be gone from this world” for $200, please.

The company further reports that since the beginning of the year the in-house team has grown from 35 into 125 employees as well as marking a 700% increase in new customers since the Coronavirus outbreak in March. The company came out of the womb fundraising, as in scoring a $4.5 million investment from Aleph and Bessemer Venture Partners in 2018 not long after the company was established, and in 2019 snacking on $11 million more. This year in March, Melio raised $48 million from Accel and American Express. The following August, last month, saw the company rake in an $80 million Series C led by Coatue and General Catalyst.