Flex Raises $60 Million And Launches Mid-market-focused Card

Flex’s annualized total payments volume has grown from $1 billion to $3 billion this year, according to a Thursday (Dec. 4) press release.

“Traditional FinTech platforms have focused either on micro-businesses or sophisticated enterprises,” the release said. “Flex serves the segment in between—the high net-worth middle-market business owner generating $3 million to $100 million in revenue, collectively employing roughly 40% of American payroll. These owners are financially sophisticated and often manage their companies alongside significant personal assets yet have no modern platform that supports the full lifecycle of their money.”

The company announced in March that it raised $225 million in debt and equity funding to help it add accounts receivable (AR) automation capabilities like invoicing, reconciliation and revenue collections.

The Series B round aligns with the launch of Flex Elite, the company’s new invite-only consumer card and membership, per the release.

Flex is positioning the card as a direct competitor to the Amex Centurion. It “extends the company’s strategy to become the private bank for middle-market business owners, giving them a unified system that spans every dimension of their financial lives,” the release said.

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “Embedded Lending Hits Friction as Mid-Market Firms Navigate Uncertainty” found that while embedded lending promises speed and convenience, mid-market businesses still cling to the predictability of traditional bank loans when the business landscape appears shaky.

“Firms’ financing choices hinged less on credit availability than on how much confidence managers had in their operations,” PYMNTS wrote in September. “Traditional credit remained the dominant option, but the report showed that embedded lending is starting to carve out a niche, especially among companies with a steadier footing.”

Half of companies operating in stable conditions reported using financing chiefly as a growth lever to build inventory ahead of demand or finance expansion. Only a quarter of businesses facing high uncertainty said the same.

Meanwhile, 20% of companies overall preferred embedded loans, with enthusiasm topping out at 32% among low-uncertainty firms. Only 7% of high-uncertainty firms favored the option, highlighting a trust gap between new platforms and traditional banks.

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