EXCLUSIVE – Digital accounting company Wave has signed an agreement with Royal Bank of Canada to provide its platform to the bank’s online business banking site, the company announced at the Finovate Conference in New York.
The deal is the first of its kind for Wave, Peter Carrescia, SVP of strategy and corporate development, told Bank Innovation. The company is currently in talks with some other major banks to integrate similar services.
As for RBC, the services will be launched for customer use in October, Canada’s Small Business Month.
Under the collaboration, Wave’s software is being embedded into RBC’s online banking ecosystem, allowing RBC customers to do things like sending invoices, running payroll, tracking expenses and conducting their bookkeeping.
“This lets the bank provide its customers services beyond just basic banking,” he said, a distinction that more and more banks are coming to realize is becoming a requirement as customers’ expectations expand beyond the basic banking services.
The RBC -Wave service will be co-branded. RBC customers can gain access to the Wave platform through a single log-in mechanism, Carrescia said.
Wave has a similar partnership with New Jersey-based human resources management provider ADP’s SME platform, called ADP Run.
Wave is currently in talks with other banks in North America and across the globe to integrate similar services.
Carrescia declined to disclose names.
In terms of products, Wave, just last week, added ACH payments to its services, Carrescia said.
“So today when customers send out invoice they can accept payment by credit card or through direct bank payments,” Carrescia said.
Launched about seven years ago, the Toronto-based Wave provides financial software and services such as including invoicing, payment processing, accounting, payroll, receipt scanning tools to small businesses. It has over 3 million customers across 180 countries globally.
At the time, Carrescia was at Canadian venture capital firm OMERS Ventures, one of the first investors in Wave.
A typical Wave customer has about 10 employees with a revenue under $2 million, Carrescia said.
Wave has a mobile receipt and invoice app available on both iOS and Android.
In May, Wave raised $32 million CAD in financing round from a group of investors including National Australia Bank, RBC, Portag3, Exhibition Capital, CRV, Social Capital, BDC IT Venture Fund and BDC Capital, OMERS Ventures, Harbourvest and OurCrowd.