**In March 2023, the FDIC was appointed receiver of Silicon Valley Bank. The information about the product covered in this blog does not reflect these events. **
An integrated credit card and expense management solution is now available for startups from Airbase and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Expense management tracks employee spending and allows companies to reimburse those expenses. As a leading startup accounting firm, Kruze Consulting has relationships with several companies that offer expense management products, and we actively look for the best tools to serve startups. Silicon Valley Bank has long been a major bank for tech startups and Airbase and SVB’s new solution is going to open up the startup credit card and expense management market even more. Disclosure: please note that we have financial and referral relationships with most of the companies we mention in this post!
SVB responded to competitors
Silicon Valley Bank’s credit card business had substantial market share, but faced increasing competition from companies like Brex, Ramp, and Bill.com. These solutions didn’t require personal guarantees, had better technology integration, and strong customer support. SVB then launched the Innovator’s Card, which offered many of the same features and improved the perks available to the customer. The interfaces and integrations to QuickBooks and other systems are much more effective, and SVB has also improved their customer support.
With the new integrated SVB card, startups will get:
- Improved efficiency. By integrating with financial systems, expense management is more seamless and requires less time. Eliminating manual entry reduces errors, and automated tools allow companies to dynamically provision credit cards and modify credit limits quickly and easily.
- Improved visibility. Consolidating expense information through a centralized dashboard improves spending decisions, and also allows companies to tie expenses to specific projects more easily.
- Improved documentation. Integrated expense management simplifies tracking and reporting, allowing better compliance with company policies, and providing clear audit trails.
A leap forward for expense management
The market is moving to an integrated approach of combining credit cards with expense management. And now that Airbase and SVB are working together they are able to provide best-in-class expense management tools. This gives employees a much greater sense of freedom, allowing them to make purchases with a very simple approval flow. The integration into QuickBooks is very important for accounting partners like Kruze Consulting because of the amount of time it saves. Integrated expense management just got easier for both startups and their accounting firms, and we’re very excited to see these changes. If you have questions about expense management solutions and how they fit into your business, please contact us.
