In the complex ecosystem of B2B technology transactions, the closing process has long been a bottleneck, characterized by manual processes, opaque financing options, and protracted timelines. Traditional payment methods like checks and ACH transfers have long been a source of friction, plagued by unstructured communication, operational complexity, and manual reconciliation. This has created a demand for modern, efficient tools that can streamline these processes.

At the heart of this challenge lies the concept of "net terms," where buyers are given 30 to 90 days to pay, effectively shifting the cash flow burden to suppliers. While this practice can potentially increase sales volume, it also exposes suppliers to risk and administrative costs. Many companies, unable to offer such terms, turn to invoice financing or factoring, selling their invoices at a discount for immediate cash. Further, often the customer requires payment flexibility, but the process involves a multi-party negotiation between the vendor's financing team, an external lender, and the sales deal desk. This negotiation often occurs through inefficient channels like email and PDF exchanges, extending the sales cycle by weeks or even months. The complexity further increases with larger customers, who bring multi-faceted considerations including legacy technology integration requirements, multi-regional/multi-lingual deployments, and intricate approval hierarchies.

Enter Vartana, positioning itself as a crucial intermediary and technical infrastructure between payers and payees. By outsourcing the net terms process to Vartana, suppliers can significantly reduce their administrative burden, speed up financing processes, offer more flexible terms, and potentially expand their market reach. Vartana embeds itself in the supplier's sales process, offering near-instant net terms to end customers while ensuring suppliers receive full payment upfront, minus a small fee. This approach not only addresses the inefficiencies of traditional B2B payment methods but also opens up new possibilities for businesses previously unable to offer competitive payment terms.

Vartana's founders, Kush Kella and Ahmed Sharif, experienced these pain points firsthand during their time at Motive. They saw the operational and human cost of these inefficiencies ⸺ the stress on sales teams, the friction for customers, the missed opportunities for growth. This experience ensures a nuanced understanding of customer pain points, which is reflected in Vartana's approach and its product design.

Vartana's product solution addresses these challenges through a multi-layered approach. At its core, the platform integrates directly with commonly used Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. This integration allows sales teams to manage the entire closing process within their existing workflow, significantly reducing context-switching and improving efficiency. The platform's automated underwriting system leverages machine learning algorithms to normalize customer data and generate risk assessments. This automation accelerates the traditionally time-consuming underwriting process from days to minutes, a step-change improvement in the sales closing timeline.

A core innovation in Vartana's approach is its digital capital marketplace. The company has developed a network connecting enterprise buyers with multiple lenders. This marketplace approach allows for real-time loan requests and competitive quote generation, optimizing for both approval rates and terms, leading to more favorable financing terms for buyers and potentially higher close rates for sellers.

The platform's payment system supports various structures, including lump sum, deferred payments, and customized installment plans. This flexibility is crucial for accommodating diverse buyer financial situations and preferences, particularly in the current economic climate where cash flow management is a priority for many businesses. Vartana's technical architecture is built on several key components. The use of microservices allows for modular development and scalability, crucial for a platform that must handle varying transaction volumes. The API-first design facilitates seamless integration with various CRM and ERP systems, reducing implementation friction for new customers. The machine learning pipeline is particularly noteworthy as it continuously improves underwriting accuracy based on transaction data, potentially leading to better risk assessment over time.

Market validation for Vartana's approach is evident in their traction metrics. The company has experience a rapid growth in financing processing volume. They've secured partnerships with enterprise leaders like Samsara, Verkada, and Barracuda. Customers report a conversion uplift of up to 30%, indicating that the platform is materially impacting sales outcomes.

As we look to the future, we see Vartana playing a crucial role in modernizing B2B commerce. By bringing consumer-grade fintech innovation to the enterprise sales suite, they're not just solving a problem ⸺ they're unlocking new possibilities for how business technology is bought and sold. Our investment in Vartana is rooted in a belief that the future of B2B sales will be more streamlined, more flexible, and more aligned with the needs of both buyers and sellers. We're excited to support Kush, Ahmed, and the entire Vartana team as they work to make this vision a reality.

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