Iwoca to offer pay later service to Xero customers with latest integration

SME lender iwoca and cloud-based accounting platform Xero have teamed up to help make the lives of SMEs easier. 

From today, Xero’s users will be able to use iwocaPay, iwoca’s invoice checkout, to give small business owners a ‘Pay Later’ function for their customers. 

iwocaPay, which was first launched in June 2020, helps suppliers get paid immediately while buyers can choose payment terms for as long as 90 days, alleviating the strain put on small businesses when invoices aren’t paid on time.

Lara Gilman, co-lead of iwocaPay, said: “We’re proud to be Xero’s first UK invoice checkout solution that offers a Pay Later option.  Having the flexibility to pay a supplier later is critical in helping small businesses manage cash flow and iwocaPay provides a better way to offer that flexibility.” 

“We’re delighted that Xero customers now have the option to include iwocaPay on any invoice. Suppliers can more easily offer business customers the extended payment terms they need, without carrying the credit or late payment risk.”

As part of the new partnership, SMEs will be able to add iwocaPay directly to their Xero invoices, enabling them to be settled quickly, all while offering a new payment option to customers. 

iwocaPay is available to all limited companies and sole traders in the UK for invoices between £150 and £15,000.

Michael Green, director of partnerships at Xero UK & EMEA: “Cash flow is the number-one reason small businesses fail.”

“Interruptions in payments can have a devastating impact on the survival of a business. So it’s great to see tools like iwocaPay easing this burden, especially at this difficult time.”

Research from the fintech released in June highlighted the need for iwoca’s invoice protection product. 

iwoca discovered that, during the first national lockdown, nearly half (40 per cent) of SMEs had £10,000s in unpaid invoices.  

In November 2020, iwoca made iwocaPay free-to-use throughout the second national lockdown after SMEs felt the Covid-19-related pinch once more.