Melio lets both sides pay their way

Jenny Hernandez had never done bookkeeping. She and her husband, Leo, ran Patriot Welding Supply in Sebring, Florida, selling the equipment other people use to join things together. Behind the counter sat a less cooperative collection of invoices, payment records and accounting chores. Their son-in-law, an accountant, recommended Melio. In Melio’s published account of her experience, Jenny measured the difference in time with customers.

Melio’s customers include businesses where the person selling the product also handles the bills. A missed payment can interrupt a supplier relationship. An afternoon spent checking whether money arrived is an afternoon unavailable for customers. The software has to fit around the business owner’s day.

“It gives me more time to spend with the customers.”

JENNY HERNANDEZ / PATRIOT WELDING SUPPLY

Two sides. Two habits. One payment.

Melio began in 2018 with Matan Bar, Ilan Atias and Ziv Paz. Bar had worked on consumer payments at PayPal. Consumers could send money from a phone; small businesses were still dealing with paper invoices and checks. After six months exploring ideas, the founders focused on that gap. Early researcher Dafna Bareket went door to door, finding businesses willing to let her pay their invoices. Watching the work supplied the product brief.

The resulting insight was about disagreement. A buyer might want to use a credit card. A supplier might want money in its bank account, or a check in the mail. Melio separates those decisions. For eligible transactions, it charges the buyer through one method and delivers the supplier’s money through another. The supplier need not become a card merchant just because its customer wants card terms.

Around that transaction sits the less visible work: uploading a bill, extracting its details, obtaining approval, choosing a delivery date and updating the books. Accounting integrations reduce repeated entry. Accountants can oversee multiple clients. On the receivables side, businesses can create invoices and collect payments through links. Melio occupies the working space between the accounting ledger and the movement of money.

The $290 question

Flexibility has a price. At the published 2.9% domestic card rate, funding a $10,000 payment costs $290. Suppose the card earns 2% cash back: that is $200, leaving a $90 gap before interest or other charges. Card timing may still help a business. Rewards alone would not justify this example.

Melio sells subscriptions as well as payment execution. Its free Go tier includes five standard ACH payments monthly; additional ones cost $0.50 each. Core, Boost and Unlimited have standard monthly prices of $25, $55 and $80, with different allowances and controls. Promotions, annual billing and additional seats change the bill. Faster delivery, checks and international routes can add charges. The business model monetizes convenience at several points.

That puts Melio among alternatives including BILL, QuickBooks Bill Pay, Ramp and bank bill payment services. The sensible comparison begins with the actual workload: payment volume, approvals, accounting compatibility and supplier locations. A simple domestic operation and a complicated international finance department are buying different things. Melio’s appeal is clearest when existing payment habits are the obstacle.

The partner can become the competitor

Distribution became another part of the product. An accountant recommending software is useful; a payment button inside a system the customer already uses is useful too. Melio launched Shopify Bill Pay in 2023 and partnered with Fiserv on CashFlow Central. Gusto added Melio-powered vendor payments and invoicing in 2025, putting those tasks beside payroll. Each relationship offered another route into the back office.

There was a cost to dependence. Intuit discontinued its embedded Bill Pay powered by Melio service in May 2024 as it moved customers toward QuickBooks Bill Pay. Melio’s separate accounting sync remained a different offering. The distinction matters: losing a place inside a partner’s product is possible even when your software can still connect to it.

The funding story also resisted a tidy upward line. Melio raised $250 million at a $4 billion valuation in 2021. It cut 60 roles in 2022, citing changed product priorities. In October 2024, a $150 million round led by Fiserv valued it at $2 billion. Those figures describe a valuation reset alongside continued backing. They do not make the earlier price disappear.

Xero completed its acquisition in October 2025 for $2.5 billion upfront, with additional contingent consideration and incentives. Bar publicly explained the combination in terms of bringing accounting and payments together. By March 2026, Xero had announced US bill payments inside its platform. For the accounting company, the attraction was direct: the place that records a liability could also help the customer settle it.

Keep the card. Lose the paperwork.

The 2026 releases follow the same adoption logic. January brought Agent Mel, an assistant answering questions about payments and vendors. June brought agents that execute eligible payments inside suppliers’ billing systems. In August, expense management arrived: cardholders receive receipt requests, upload photographs and have details extracted and categorized. Businesses can keep their existing cards. Familiarity remains part of the design.

There are boundaries. International payments originate in the United States, eligible destinations vary, and faster options remain subject to restrictions. Invoice capture does not remove the need to check an invoice. Paying by card does not remove the eventual card bill. A useful trial would follow several real payments all the way into the ledger, including approvals, fees and delivery.

The idea readers can borrow is concrete. Watch the task before redesigning it. Find the moment where two people’s preferences collide. Make that handoff easier without requiring both people to change everything. Back in Sebring, the result Jenny cares about is time with customers. For a payments company, that is a demanding measure of success.