Funding Gates Puts the ‘Receive’ in Accounts Receivables

Marketing? No sweat. Payroll? A breeze.

For more than 50 percent of small business owners, the real challenge of operating their businesses is collecting payments. And considering that in the U.S., roughly 20 percent of all accounts receivable debt is past due, it’s not only a stressful aspect of the workday, it has the potential to seriously impact the bottom line.

Today, a New York City-based startup called Funding Gates launched a new, cloud-based accounts-receivable management software solution called FG Receivables Manager, which helps small businesses take control of the debts owed to them and get paid faster.

Helping Small Businesses Get Paid Faster

Cofounder Jean-Marc Freeuler is quick to point out that “Funding Gates is not a collection agency,” although the platform can facilitate collections. Instead, Freeuler says that FG Receivables Manager securely integrates with Intuit QuickBooks, prioritizes receivables and “gives recommendations to the user on what actions they should take to get paid faster.”

“Once you log into Funding Gates, data is automatically synced,” says Freeuler. The platform then generates a snapshot of receivables data, including active customers and outstanding amounts. But the real value lies in how it takes the guesswork and time-consuming manual labor out of collecting payments.

An FG Receivables Manager automatically “categorizes your accounts into different risk pockets,” generates a list of customers that are past due and displays the results in a visually rich, easy-to-use dashboard, says Freeuler. You can opt to place a phone call or send email notices of escalating importance (friendly reminder, firm, harsh and final) that employ specially researched templates that have been shown to raise collectability rates by up to 10 percent.

Should those efforts fail, Funding Gates has teamed with debt collections specialist AIP Solutions to assist small businesses that may need a little extra help. However, it usually doesn’t get that far.

According to Funding Gates cofounder Ismail Colak, most people who use FG Receivables Manager no longer approach their accounts receivables duties with trepidation. “Our software currently manages more than one million invoices, and the feedback we’re receiving is incredibly positive. We are giving companies a solution that has been conventionally missing from their small business toolbox,” he boasts in company remarks.

“In a short period of time, our customers have made fantastic progress on their receivables management capabilities – some have even been able to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars on outstanding past due invoices in just a few weeks,” adds Colak.

One customer was able to “reduce her outstanding amounts from $320,000 to $50,000,” reports Freeuler.

FG Receivables Manager is now available at the Intuit App Center. New users are entitled to a 30-day free trial. A free Basic plan is available for businesses with up to 10 accounts. The Professional subscription costs $69 per month, or $49 per month ($588) if prepaid for the year, for an unlimited number of accounts.

The top-of-the-line Premium plan, which adds postal reminder letters, receivables coaching and consultations and QuickBooks support and advice costs $119 per month, or $89 per month ($1,068) if prepaid for the year.

Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at Small Business Computing and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.

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