How Paytron automated payments to become one of Australia’s fastest growing startups

Co-founders Jaco Paytron and Francois Henrion started their fintech payments platform Paytron during one of the most difficult times in recent history. With the global pandemic just beginning and market instability at an all time high, the idea for Paytron was formed, as a tool for accountants to automate rudimentary processes. 

Since then, the startup has evolved to solve numerous payment problems for SMEs, accountants and enterprise businesses, automating and processing payments, handling accounts payables, international transfers, payroll and more.

Alongside the evolution of Paytron’s technology, the payments startup has seen momentous success, recently winning the annual Fintech Awards award for ‘Fintech Startup of the Year’ and Commbank’s Xccelerate funding. 

So, how did Paytron propel from an idea formed during the pandemic to one of Australia’s fastest growing startups?

It started with a simple idea to automate payments processes

In early 2020, when many were preparing to batten down the business hatches to weather the COVID-19 storm, co-founders Jaco and Francois met. 

Sharing their frustrations at the pain points of finance tools for SMEs and accountants, after many years in the industry, the duo decided to take a leap of faith and start Paytron. 

“It was interesting timing because Francois and I met the week that the pandemic really kicked off, but we knew we could solve the problems faced by many accountants and SMBs in an easier, more efficient way, so we just went for it,” said Jaco. 

“The pandemic was definitely one of our accelerants because people were no longer sitting next to each other in an office to get quick financial approvals on invoices. However, this led to many realising how outdated their payments processes were and how many control and security weaknesses existed,” explained Jaco. 

In a time when all processes had become digitised, Paytron created a payments dashboard which enabled users to harness workflows to upload, prepare and approve invoices and expenses. 

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Paytron’s evolution

With major customers like Jaycar Electronics, George Medicines, Selina and Dermalogica, Paytron has seen significant growth over the past two years. However, alongside that growth, Paytron as a product has seen numerous changes. 

“We started very humbly, just wanting to automate bill payments but questions from our clients helped us build upon the platform to develop a system which enhances a business’s finances and overall operations through automation,” said Jaco.

“Our platform gives workplaces a centralised approval workflow for invoices, where it automatically approves certain prices for certain individuals, whilst sending some expenses to the CEO for final approval. This process has saved businesses countless hours of administrative work and has removed any margin for human error,” said Jaco. 

Spotting security risks in existing payments processes within the market, the startup has also created an entirely closed payment ecosystem for certain payments processes, to protect its customers from financial fraud and security.

“We realised certain internal controls of bill payments workflows, like those conducted for batch payments, are not entirely secure. Text file types are editable by anyone and can override customer information like names, addresses and payment details,” explained Jaco.

“With our system, the information is contained in a closed ecosystem which is protected against editing or changes, which we are very passionate about given it protects our customers from any risks associated with financial fraud,’ said Jaco. 

The company is now also helping businesses to process employee reimbursements which has become a huge problem for employees across the globe. 

“We’ve seen a lot of interest in this new feature, as many employees are not reimbursed for expenses and are out of pocket for some time due to inadequate payment processes,” he said.

“Employees can be provided one of our virtual cards or can immediately upload their expenses to our centralised platform, the approver will be notified, and the payment will be returned within 2 to 24 hours to the employee,” explained Jaco. 

Advice to future founders 

With two years of continued success, Jaco said finding the right partners has been integral to this journey. Pin Payments, an online payments provider, has worked alongside the startup to assist Paytron in taking international payments and automate their processes.

“We’ve been lucky to have fantastic partners like Pin Payments, who’ve been very supportive and a big part of our journey. Being able to process payments globally in different currencies was a huge advantage of their services and has been really vital for us,” said Jaco. 

“However, outside of great partners, my advice to new founders would be to use the best technology possible and get to market as soon as possible because client feedback will be vital to your success,” said Jaco.

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