Fintech lender BlueVine is enhancing the SMB banking experience, one that has traditionally lagged behind consumer and corporate sectors, by leaning into payments, third-party connectivity and the mobile experience.

Redwood, Calif.-based BlueVine launched new payment capabilities on BlueVine Business Banking, the company announced this week. BlueVine Business Banking is a platform for integrated banking and lending services for small businesses. BlueVine Payments enables small business owners to pay vendors and bills online with a BlueVine or external bank account, debit card or credit card. The credit card function is currently in beta and will launch on BlueVine’s mobile app by yearend.

BlueVine payments lets SMBs pay vendors and bills from a directory of more than 40,000 registered payees and common billers, and allows users to configure one-time, scheduled and recurring payments from the app. BlueVine sends the funds via check, wire or ACH on the SMB’s behalf.

BlueVine also announced its partnership with Plaid to connect its customers’ third-party bank accounts to BlueVine’s systems, and for other third-party apps to connect to BlueVine. BlueVine’s business checking account is listed as a supported bank account for third-party application and banking partners. BlueVine and Plaid have worked together since October 2019 when the business banking platform launched in beta.

Today, BlueVine Business Checking has more than 20,000 small business customers. The fintech has gained more than $50 million in deposits across all checking accounts and processed nearly $40 million in payments and debit transactions.

“Small business is a smaller market than consumer and corporations, so a lot of this is just following the money,” said Eyal Lifshitz, CEO and co-founder of BlueVine, who noted that commercial banking is about 30% of the market, retail is 55% and SMB takes the remaining 15%. “On a single bank’s PNL, it’s 15% versus other markets which are bigger, so it is deprioritized compared with retail and corporations.” The variability of credit and cash flow profiles also makes it difficult to accurately calculate risk at scale, he added.

Meanwhile, BBVA-backed Azlo last month launched a subscription service, Azlo Pro, designed for small businesses and freelancers to automate several back-office functions. The add-on service is $10 per month — Azlo will still offer its free account — and it offers tools to automate processes around scheduling and sending invoices and budgeting to ensure funds are reserved for crucial expenses, such as payroll and owner draws. With the Pro account, SMBs can also transfer funds between Azlo bank accounts and external accounts to pay vendors and suppliers.

San Francisco-based Azlo launched in the U.S. in 2018 and is backed and majority-owned by BBVA, which provides the banking services Azlo provides. Azlo has doubled the number of new accounts year over year, said John Forrester, senior vice president of marketing.

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Azlo and BlueVine face stiff competition in the SMB banking space, as legacy institutions shift resources to new SMB technology and integrations.

The Paycheck Protection Program earlier this year uncovered a discrepancy in the sophistication of technology and innovation offered to small businesses, especially when compared with commercial and retail banking standards.

Lenders, incumbent and fintech alike, scrambled to stand up PPP online portals and digitized processes. Many relied on manual and paper-heavy processes while big banks’ systems crashed under the flood of SMBs racing to be approved for government relief funds. The rush to digitize SMB banking starkly contrasts to its retail and commercial counterparts, wherein online and mobile portals and digitized processes are table stakes.