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Advanced AI to extend understanding of late payments

Previse - the B2B payment decision specialists - are different: they focus on making making payments to the suppler when the invoice is received, not when it is approved. To do this they really need to understand the background about the payment and the supplier, etc. which requires huge, in-dept AI knowledge about the B2B payment decisions, and extensive research and analysis. So it is no surprise that Previse has secured a £800k R&D grant from Scottish Enterprise, to set up a new development centre in Glasgow, creating 37 new data science jobs.

This will be the London-based company’s first office in Scotland, from where it plans to start rolling out its first instant-payments programme with a number of blue chip multinational buyers. Welcoming the announcement Scottish Government Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy Paul Wheelhouse said:

  • “Scotland is a world renowned centre for expertise in data science and digital technologies and I am delighted to welcome Previse to our thriving financial technology community.
  • The Scottish Government are supporting business innovation by providing an additional £15 million a year for research and development, which will aim to help lever in further business expenditure on research and development that will stimulate further economic and employment growth, and develop leading edge expertise.”

Previse technology

Previse’s technology uses artificial intelligence to enable large businesses to pay their suppliers the day they receive an invoice. Using hundreds of millions of data points, it creates an independent score of a multinational buyer’s likelihood to pay an invoice. The technology uses this to make a decision about which invoices will be paid, so funding can be extended to SME suppliers instantly.

Previse’s technology aims to tackle the problem of late payment for the supply chain, which has been identified as a growing challenge for Britain’s small businesses. With a reported 60 per cent experiencing the problem, figures show that late payments force 50,000 UK businesses to close every year.1

David Brown, Previse’s co-founder and chief product officer, said:

  • “Late invoice payments is a global problem. Failing to pay on time for the goods and services is not only morally wrong, it makes no commercial sense. It drives up the cost of business for SME suppliers which, in the end, will feed through into purchasing costs for buyers. After all, there is no such thing as free money.
  • Glasgow has become a thriving center of UK financial technology, making it an ideal place for us. We are looking forward to further strengthening our ties to the Scottish business community as well as Scottish academia, through our work with The Data Lab, and support from Scottish Enterprise to take full advantage of the power of artificial technology to tackle late payments once and for all.”

CTMfile take: Previse’s focus on paying suppliers on the day the invoice is a new paradigm in supply chain finance, but to work it requires advanced AI technology to really understand the risks involved in each transaction. No wonder they are investing heavily in their AI technology to ensure they increase their understanding of each transaction.

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