Volopay

If you're running a business, Volopay gives you a way to manage key financial transactions and tasks in one place. This fintech company was founded in Singapore 2019 and is backed by investors from brands including Google, Airbnb, Facebook and wework.

In Australia, Volopay subscriptions start from $75 a month, with features including unlimited virtual Visa cards for your teams, money transfers and integration with accounting software including MYOB, QuickBooks and Xero.

What is Volopay?

Volopay is a subscription service that gives businesses a way to manage corporate cards, employee expense claims, money transfers and accounting tasks in one place.

It's particularly useful for businesses that want a lot of cards for their employees, as it offers virtual cards you can set up quickly and manage from a central dashboard. Unlike business credit cards, with Volopay you use business funds for transactions – but there is the option of a credit facility that is similar to a charge card.

Pros and cons

Volopay features

When you sign up to Volopay, you get access to all its features. This includes:

• Smart corporate cards

You can create as many virtual cards as you want for your business and teams. Volopay also lets you set up unique virtual cards for every online vendor that you need to pay, which can help with management and protection against fraud. You can also get 1 physical card for each account user.

• Integration with accounting software

If you use Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks, you can link your Volopay account to streamline reporting.

You can also set different customisations for expense tracking and approval, so that it fits in with your existing processes.

• Expense claims

When you're reviewing expenses, you'll see details of how your budgets are tracking and can add bank account details to reimburse employees.

For expenses that aren't put on a Volopay card, employees can easily upload a receipt and fill in a short claim form through Volopay and the platform will automatically extract key details to help save time on admin.

• Auto approval settings

If there are payments you want to be made without review, you can set an approval policy for reimbursements that will automatically approve them. You can also set who approves reimbursements and manage other key details based on your business needs.

• Complex approval policies

Options to customise approval for different budgets and transactions.

• Invoice management

Submit invoices from anywhere and use the dashboard to manage them. This gives you and other administrators oversight on vendor payments and keeps processes to one platform (Volopay), even if you need to make payments to vendors overseas.

• Money transfers

You can transfer money from Volopay to Australian accounts and supported international accounts, including:

• • British pounds (GBP)
  • Canadian dollars (CAD)
  • Chinese Yuan (CNY)
  • Euros (EUR)
  • Hong Kong dollars (HKD)
  • New Zealand dollars (NZD)
  • US dollars (USD)
  • Singapore dollars (SGD)

• Multi-currency wallet

You can set up a wallet and hold multiple currencies, making it easier to lock in an exchange rate, budget for international transfers and receive funds like a local vendor if you operate in different regions.

• Enforceable budgets

Set up recurring budgets for regular monthly amounts, or one-off budgets that could be useful for short-term projects.

• Business credit facility

If you want to extend your cashflow, you have the option of setting up a credit facility, with a maximum credit limit of $100,000. Keep in mind the limit can be lower than this, depending on lending criteria and assessment.

Adding a credit facility gives you a way to make payments when you need to, then settle your account balance each time you get a statement. So it is more similar to a business charge card than a credit card (because it does not attract interest).

• Security

Volopay has bank-grade encryption and access protocols and gives you a way to set up different virtual card numbers for different payments to reduce the risk of fraud. Your funds are also stored in a Big 4 Bank account and covered by ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) protections.

Volopay pricing

Volopay offers a free 14-day trial for new customers, which gives you a chance to see if it suits your business.

After that, plan costs are based on your total monthly spending in AUD and your chosen billing frequency, with the option of monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual. As a general guide, it costs less if you choose to be billed annually.

If your business spends more than $75,000, you can contact Volopay to talk about a custom plan and pricing.

How to apply

You can sign up for Volopay online in a few steps. You'll also be given the choice of onboarding yourself or going through a 30-minute demonstration and onboarding process with someone from Volopay.

Volopay demonstrations

Each demonstration is personalised to your business, with some key topics including:

• Different Volopay features and how the platform works
• How to use Volopay to manage budgets, expenses and people-related tasks
• Virtual and physical card management, including how to create virtual cards and load funds

If you choose this option, make sure you schedule time for it when you're ready to sign up.

Eligibility

To get a Volopay account, your business will also have to meet the following requirements:

• Business registration. Your business must have been an Australian Incorporated Company for at least 12 months.
• Number of employees. Your business must have at least 5 employees.

What happens next

After you have signed up, you can start using Volopay for your business.

The Volopay platform has a detailed support section with lots of how-to guides to help you get set-up. You can also contact Volopay through its online chat or email support.