Papaya and Applied Innovation to enable payment methods for ARM

By Leandra Monteiro

Papaya, a modern bill payment platform that uses proprietary computer vision technology to simplify bill payments for consumers, announced its partnership with Applied Innovation, a software development company that provides a suite of solutions for the Accounts Receivable Management (ARM) industry to automate workflow and improve efficiencies. This partnership will enable Applied Innovation to integrate Papaya’s proprietary “bill understanding technology” into their business customers’ payments portals, allowing consumers to submit payments in a matter of seconds by simply scanning a bill with their cell phones, providing a less stressful and time-intensive experience.

“At Papaya, our mission is to alleviate the stress of paying bills for American families,” said Patrick Kann, CEO and co-founder of Papaya. “We are thrilled to extend Papaya’s bill payment solutions to Applied Innovation and its business customers, and to expand the number of Americans that can now pay their bills with our simple and frictionless experience.”

Consumers can access Papaya’s frictionless solutions via the express feature within Applied Innovation’s business customer payments portal. Papaya has integrated with a number of Applied Innovation customers including PFC, a full-service accounts receivable management company located in Greeley, Colorado.

“Partnering with Papaya is a tremendous opportunity to streamline the accounts receivable management process,” said Harry Strausser, President of Applied Innovation. “The ARM industry has been historically slow to innovate, but we strongly believe alternative payment methods like Papaya are the next step for improving the experience of our business customers, as well as everyday consumers.”

“Adding Papaya to our payments portal has given our consumers a simple and fast way to pay their bill,” said Derrik Garhart, Senior Director of Recovery at PFC. “At first, I wasn’t sure what consumers would think of a newer technology like this, but the response has been overwhelmingly positive, and Papaya is currently used for 50% of all our website payments. It’s always great to offer consumers newer technology, especially more self-service options, and Papaya does just that.”

Applied Innovation intends to continue integrating Papaya’s solutions into its business customers’ payments portals as the year progresses. This partnership comes on the heels of Papaya’s $50M Series B in December 2021 led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Papaya plans to introduce a number of new features for billers, fintechs, and consumers to further disrupt the bill payment experience in the months to come.