Business-to-business payments firm Plastiq has announced a partnership with automated accounts receivable platform Billfire that will allow merchants to accept and transmit credit card payments, even when one party does not accept credit cards.

Plastiq’s platform functions as a middleman for transactions for businesses not yet connected with payments rails, so businesses can choose how to receive payments. For instance, the platform would allow a buyer to pay via credit card while also allowing the seller choose how to receive their money, whether through a wire transfer, automated clearing house (ACH) payment or check.

The fintech’s model “separates the payment method from the disbursement method,” Ilya Shell, head of senior partnerships at Plastiq, told Bank Automation News. The partnership with Billfire will enable Plastiq to add payment options into Billfire’s existing platform through an API-powered integration, expanding its reach to small and medium-sized businesses.

“Partnering up with Plastiq means we’ll be able to broaden credit card acceptance for our customers and allow them to avoid unwanted merchant fees,” John Lockhart, chief executive at Billfire, said in a statement.

Plastiq will still charge a service fee in a situation where credit cards aren’t accepted, but Shell said that burden would be shifted to the buyer instead of the seller, thereby lowering the disincentives associated with accepting credit cards. He said that this, in turn, would let small businesses hold on to their working capital and conserve cash when they make business-to-business (B2B) payments.

Noting that only about 12% to 15% of B2B payments are made via credit cards, Shell added that this integration would allow businesses to deploy, “significant unused credit capacity.”

San Francisco-based Plastiq has raised a total of $141.8 million over eight funding rounds, most recently in a $75 million Series D round in March 2020, according to Crunchbase. The fintech, which was founded in 2012, has largely focused on business transactions using credit cards.

Plastiq’s offering looks to solve gaps in the supply chain payments process where end customers for businesses pay with credit cards, and where suppliers to those businesses do not accept credit card payments. While New York-based fintech Melio also offers a similar product, it does not support wire transfers on its platform.

Plastiq also allows businesses to set up automated recurring payments and will be integrated with Billfire’s Valet offering, which offers a ‘Click2Pay’ optionality that transmits payment requests and invoices using API integrations so suppliers and distributors receive payments faster. Plastiq first interacted with Billfire when the restaurant industry was hit hard by Covid and low-margin businesses wanted to maintain their cash flow without missing payments to suppliers.

“What’s ‘nice to have’ on the consumer side, is a ‘must have’ on the business side,” Shell said.