Initially, the company focused on developing purchase-order software for businesses. But some early users discussed with Apruve executives the difficulty of managing ongoing orders and extending payment terms to their customers. As a result of those discussions, Apruve last year shifted focus and developed a system to lower the cost and risk of accounts receivable, particularly for large manufacturers dealing with frequent, ongoing orders. "As a supplier, they're acting like a bank or credit bureau and lending to customers on a daily basis. That incurs costs," said Michael Noble, founder and chief executive of Apruve. The company created a platform involving third-party underwriters to take on the financial risk and collection of invoices. Users of Apruve's order system get paid within 24 hours while it takes on the work of collecting payments from those users' customers.

http://www.startribune.com/another-minneapolis-fintech-apruve-gets-series-a-round-of-6m/504814192/