When supply-chain breakdowns snarled business operations in 2020, a trio of entrepreneurs spotted an opportunity to develop digital payments technology, including ways to surpass legacy fuel card industry players like
The result is AtoB, a San Francisco-based digital payments platform provider launching a partnership with Mastercard on Monday that aims to compete
While FleetCor's Fuelman, WEX and U.S. Bank's Voyager commercial fuel card networks have been steadily digitizing from paper- and plastic-based transactions in the last several years — and another upstart called
"We're part of the movement to consumerize business-to-business payments within the fuel card industry," he said.
Velivela's previous work with self-driving vehicle technology in India gave him the idea to devise AtoB when he saw how difficult it was to set up payments for alternative transportation for goods when supply chains broke down in 2020.
"Paying drivers in a high-turnover industry is complicated, and we saw ways to make it easier to set up and manage this area with our own approach to data," he said.
AtoB's co-founders include Harshita A., a high school dropout who developed a crypto-price tracking app at age 16 (which she sold to Redwood City Ventures); and Tushar Misra, who previously worked on technology development at Uber. Velivela took road trips with them during 2020 to places like Bakersfield and Stockton along Interstate 5, one of California's key trucking arteries.
Throughout the summer at truck stops, warehouses and motels, the co-founders interviewed veteran truck and fleet drivers and took extensive notes documenting their routines and pain points in paying and getting paid on the job.
"Truckers are one of the most common jobs in America and a lot of them still face massive inconveniences in managing payments on the road, and waiting to get paid for their work, and we saw ways to fix this," he said.
AtoB's twist is the fact that it has skipped the cost of building and maintaining a private fuel card acceptance network like FleetCor's Fuelman brand and U.S. Bank's Voyager, relying on Mastercard to power its system. In addition to Mastercard's broad acceptance, AtoB created software that provides the typical fuel-card discounts and fleet-management controls, with the ability to pay and reimburse drivers through Mastercard Send, the card network's instant debit product, according to Velivela.
"The bulk of fuel cards used by trucking companies and fleets run on closed-loop networks that need to have acceptance programs for every different merchant and fuel station, which is understandable if you look at the history of this industry over about 70 years where fuel cards evolved to have unique pricing and controls," Velivela said.
While AtoB has supported some Visa-branded versions of its card during development, the firm has adopted Mastercard as the exclusive network for its commercial card rollout, with access to Mastercard Easy Savings, a rebate program with deals in travel, dining and fuel purchases.
Supply-chain problems in recent years have reinforced the importance of digitizing these types of payments, said Sherri Haymond, Mastercard's executive vice president of digital partnerships, in a press release, adding that Mastercard hopes to find further program enhancements for drivers and fleet operators using AtoB's platform.
Embedded-finance firm Highnote is the card program manager, and AtoB is working with Celtic Bank and Evolve Bank & Trust as its card issuers. AtoB is also in discussions with other banks, Velivela said.
AtoB also uses proprietary software and telematics to cut fleet operators' costs by spotlighting ways for drivers to save on trip expenses including vehicle repairs, maintenance and washing, while automatically declining unauthorized purchases. The firm provides drivers with physical credit, charge and prepaid cards, with virtual cards available for quick issuance and replacement, he said.
The firm aims to beat competitors by shaving off transaction fees and out-of-network fees, in part due to Mastercard's universal acceptance. Similar to the pricing models used by incumbents, AtoB will charge an account setup fee, a single-digit fee for late payments and monthly fees for maintaining accounts that vary based on customer size and usage.
At launch, the 70-employee AtoB has contracts with thousands of trucking firms ranging from tiny operators to larger fleets including ambulance companies, according to Velivela, adding that the firm has raised about $110 million in venture capital after working with Y Combinator during its earliest stages.
While fuel card network incumbents like FleetCor, WEX and U.S. Bank have much deeper roots and international footprints in the industry, AtoB sees big opportunities initially to help U.S.-based firms of all sizes as they launch new services and expand.
"Our biggest growth is coming from logistics firms that want more transparency and real-time data about fuel card payments, and from the many small trucking firms that want an easy way to modernize — 90% of our potential customers have five trucks or fewer," Velivila said.
