Airbase Review by a CPA Firm

Feb 2023 update - Airbase recently made some significant changes to their corporate card program. We think they are now only offering pre-funded cards that work seamlessly with their excellent expense management software. We'll update this review / overview when we learn more about the changes to their card program.

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Hey, it's Scott Orn at Kruze Consulting. And I have a cool topic today. Airbase has announced they are going to be competing on cash back credit cards.

So Airbase is one of the leaders in the startup world for expense management tools. They compete with folks like Brex and Ramp, Expensify, Bill.com and Divvy. And by the way, at Kruze we have relationships with all these firms. So there is a conflict in that we do work with all these firms and I have a very, very small personal investment in Airbase. But this video comes from a really good place because they announced something very, very interesting, which is they are going to start giving back, cash back, the interchange on purchases that Airbase clients use when they buy stuff. So basically when a credit card company will charge interchange to the merchants, which is basically like an embedded fee or their share of the fee on a transaction.

And what Airbase is doing for debit cards, they're giving back 2.25% and for credit cards 1.75% back to your startup when you use Airbase as a credit card. They also announced a freemium option or a free option for us mortals who don't live in the startup ecosystem 100% of the time like I do. But basically you can get started with Airbase for free. Very, very interesting. That's kind of mimicking what Ramp and Brex and Divvy have done. Like, they were always kind of free products in making money on the interchange. And that was kind of how they subsidized everything.

So Airbase is mimicking that. But the cool thing about Airbase is it's very, very robust expense management software. And historically they've been selling to kind of the mid-market or later-stage market. And so this move is putting them right there in the early-stage market. And you know what? Like, early-stage companies are typically very cost-sensitive and so going quote-unquote free is actually is a good strategic move for them. And providing that cash back is going to be very helpful to the customer. So excited for Airbase. Wish them the best.

And the expense management market or industry is very, very interesting right now. Brex, Ramp, Expensify, Bill.com and Divvy, Airbase, they're like I think is that five? Check my math there. That's five very, very legit vendors all going after it. And you know, I don't really feel bad for the old-school credit card companies but they have some very, very stiff competition in these startups.

So it's gonna be fun to see how this plays out and how Amex and Chase and Capital One and some of the other larger credit card companies respond. So point taken, Airbase. Nice job. Great announcement. And we'll see how this does. Thanks.

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