Introducing Canada’s smartest corporate card for USD spending

We’re excited to announce that Float’s new USD smart corporate cards are here to help you simplify your U.S.-dollar business spending. 

You and your team can spend, track, approve and reconcile all your business expenses no matter which currency you’re spending in. Our USD smart corporate cards can be used anywhere Mastercard is accepted – which is basically everywhere. Whether you’re purchasing new software, going on a business trip or need to stock up on product inventory, we’ve got you covered. 🙌🏻

It’s easy as 1, 2, 3! ⬇️

Step 1:

Connect your USD bank account to Float

Step 2:

Issue an unlimited* number of physical or virtual USD cards to employees or vendors

Step 3:

Export transactions to your accounting software at month-end and enjoy having all your receipts automatically matched, embedded, and categorized for you 

With our new USD smart corporate cards, you can: 

Manage your USD and CAD spending all in one place 💸

You can spend, track, approve and reconcile all of your CAD and USD expenses within Float. Regardless of which currency your team is spending in, you can track purchases and export them into your accounting software without any guesswork or confusion. 

Leave foreign transaction fees at the door 🌎

With Float cards, you can avoid foreign transaction fees on USD spend by using a Float USD card. You can also link Float to your USD bank account so you can avoid your bank’s currency conversion fees. 

Easily manage and pay for subscriptions and advertising ​​💵

Many popular subscription software plans charge in USD, like Zoom, Slack, or Deel. Advertising platforms can also charge in USD, including TikTok and LinkedIn. Float offers unlimited virtual cards, so you can instantly create a card for each vendor. With virtual cards, you can set up card controls and spend limits to limit fraud, overcharges, or cards pausing in the middle of a campaign due to low card limits. 

Quickly pay and reconcile U.S. travel expenses ✈️

Hooray! You can now issue physical USD corporate cards to your travelling employees. All cards are linked to your Float software and set up with individual card controls and automated receipt compliance, giving you full visibility over team spending regardless of the time zone they’re in. Your team can now travel stress-free and easily make business purchases without having to wait for any management approvals. Even better, you’ll never have to hound them for receipts ever again – Float will notify them to upload a snapshot any time they make a transaction. 🧾

Get access to USD corporate cards with high limits with no personal guarantees 💳

Big banks make it difficult to access corporate cards in general, let alone those in USD currency. Many banks will require you to have a legal US entity before issuing you a US-based bank account or corporate card. Float offers easy access to USD corporate cards with high limits and no personal guarantee – so you can spend with ease and accelerate your company’s growth worldwide! 🚀

Float’s USD card is ideal for Canadian businesses that earn and spend USD. Does your team need access to USD smart corporate cards? Float provides fast approvals with no personal guarantees or credit checks needed. Book a demo with us today or sign up for free

*Unlimited physical and virtual cards for Professional Plan members. Essential members get unlimited virtual cards and 5 physical cards.

New! Float SAML SSO Login

Account security is vital for companies who are giving their teams access to software that contains valuable company information. For any organization, it’s important for team members to have the tools they need to perform their jobs on a daily basis. At the same time, it can be difficult to keep track of accounts, ensure employees are using secure passwords, and verify that account access isn’t being shared with others. 

At Float, account security for our customers is one of our biggest priorities. That’s why we’re excited to offer SAML SSO login for our Professional Plan members, and multi-factor authentication for all Float customers. 

What is SAML SSO?

User management can be a headache, especially for large companies or those who are scaling. The reality is, employees come and go and keeping track of accounts and logins can be quite difficult – not to mention, it poses a security risk too. 

SAML enables Single Sign-On (SSO) and provides increased security and convenience for companies by allowing for just one set of secure login credentials across platforms, including Float. SAML works by passing information about users, logins, and attributes between the service providers and identity providers (iDp) including Azure, Okta, Auth0, and OneLogin. 

For Professional Plan members, Float uses SAML to securely pass authentication and authorization from your identity provider to Float for a secure Single Sign-On experience! 

The Benefits 🤩

Employee onboarding or offboarding 👋🏼

IT and security teams can seamlessly manage users in the organization.

Greater convenience 👍🏼

Employees only need to sign into one platform. No need to remember multiple usernames and passwords! 

Increased security 👀

SAML SSO is one of the most secure ways to enable account access for companies and teams. 

We’ve got more tech acronyms for you! 

Have you heard of MFA? No? 🤷🏼‍♂️ Well hear us out! Multi-factor authentication (MFA) provides basic authentication for your company’s team. It works to improve account security and prevent unauthorized login attempts by requiring an additional “factor” to verify that the person logging in is really who they say they are. 🧐

This can include a text message with a unique code or a one-time-password (OTP) issued by a third party authenticator app such as Google Authenticator. 

The Key Benefit: Increased Security

By adding an additional checkpoint for a user login, you protect the company from hackers getting access through compromised passwords. 

Here’s how it works ⬇️

To set up SAML SSO

SAML SSO is available to Professional Plan members. (Not yet on our Professional Plan? Upgrading is easy! Just contact our Support team and we’ll walk you through the process of coming to the Professional side.) 

  • Head to your Settings page and click “Account Security”. From here, you’ll be asked to enter your identity provider’s information and connect to Float.
  • Visit our Help Centre for more detailed instructions on setting up SAML SSO.

To set up MFA

Did you know MFA is available to all Float customers?! Here’s how you can enable it: 

  • Go to your company “Settings” page and click “Account Security”. From there you can configure your login policies with our MFA settings. 
  • Once enabled, the next time your team logs into Float, they will be prompted to set up MFA and choose either text or OTP as their second factor for login security. 
  • After that is complete, they will be prompted to enter their one-time code or password. 
  • Visit our Help Centre for more information on setting up MFA.

At Float, we’re bringing you one step closer to smarter, more secure spend management. 👊🏼 If you have any questions about enabling SAML SSO or MFA, we’re a click away!

How Forma.ai Found True Financial Autonomy With Float

Forma.ai, the world’s first end-to-end sales performance management (SPM) platform, is growing and they’re growing fast. Andy O’Reilly, Forma.ai’s Senior Manager of Finance & Technology, swiftly recognized after joining the company in 2021 that a quick and efficient spend management solution was necessary. With the company’s headcount increasing 4x in a little over a year, Float was the obvious solution to help manage spending and track expenses. Read how Float has enabled Andy and the entire Forma.ai team to reach their goals and maintain their rapid growth without the distractions of over-complex and manual spend management processes.

Q1: How long have you been using Float? What about Float made you choose us?

I joined Forma.ai in March 2021 and coincidentally, in April 2021, one month after I joined, Float reached out to us and we’ve been working together ever since. Given the nature of my job, I see a lot of demos – but Float’s was one of the best I’ve seen. I felt immediate confidence in the platform and in their level of service and attention. I also quickly saw that Float was able to offer our teams the financial autonomy and agility we were searching for, while maintaining full control of budgetary spend. At the time of onboarding, I was a team of one and we were a company of 50 employees.  Checking expenses against receipts was a huge bottleneck for everyone. We’re over 150 employees now and without Float we would have had an A/P nightmare.

Float has created an independent workflow where everything is automated, integrated, and digitally captured – allowing us to focus all our attention on taking Forma.ai to the next level of our growth.

Q2: What did company spending and expense management look like before Float?

Before Float, spend and expense management was tedious and time-consuming. We did not have an efficient system in place or a way to track expenses. We had one credit card and often had to facilitate wire transfers, which cost us money every time! 

Working with Float, we’ve been able to save so much money and become more streamlined at the same time. AND we get back what we spend on our Float cards with their cashback feature – it’s a win-win! 

Float also gives me the power to manage and oversee everything without having to be directly involved. Our senior leadership team can now control their own spending and expenses without constantly seeking approval to use their corporate cards. It not only makes my life easier but for our whole team too!

We recently raised $45 million in our Series B funding round, which is a big milestone for the company. Given our tremendous growth in the last year, I don’t think it would have been possible to get to where we are today without Float.

Q3: What were the biggest pain points that Float solved for your business? 

Before using Float, we had a single corporate card that a lot of people needed to access. We have a large sales team distributed across Canada and the United States – just imagine the receipt tracking that came with that!

I really value how much Float has streamlined our bookkeeping. It integrates so well with our accounting software and the process of balancing our books is no longer manual. 

Float also sends every employee a notification after a transaction has been completed, reminding them to take a picture of their receipt and upload it. It’s now so much easier to get a handle on our receipt paper trail because it’s all stored in the cloud.

Q4: What is the best part of working with Float?

Float’s ability to integrate has been a game-changer for us at Forma.ai. The automation gives us back so much time we otherwise wouldn’t have had. It has also created a smooth expense approval workflow, with no hold-ups or delays in reimbursement. 

With Float, we can easily set financial or time limits on cards and having this control gives everyone clear guidelines and expectations when it comes to company spending. 

Since implementing Float at Forma.ai, I’ve recommended the product to several colleagues in the industry. The Float team is always available and attentive, supporting us with whatever we need. The direct chat has allowed for seamless communication and no mixed messages. 

Aside from the people, the Float platform is critical for us now. Float’s virtual cards continue to give our team the flexibility and autonomy they need and deserve – we have a total of 60 currently active. If one of our team members leaves, we can immediately stop their card without having to worry about cancelling any of their subscriptions or memberships.

About Forma.ai

Forma.ai is the only sales compensation platform that allows organizations to flexibly manage what are currently brittle and easily broken sales compensation management processes. Their unique platform enables organizations to design, execute, and optimize their sales compensation strategy with a scientific approach driven by a collective data model. Forma.ai transforms one of the largest cost centers in an organization into its most powerful lever for top-line revenue growth. Founded in Toronto in 2016, the company is backed by ACME Capital, Crosslink Capital, xFund, Panache Ventures, Golden Ventures, Uncork Capital and Gaingels. Forma.ai is trusted by a growing list of innovative global enterprises with clients including Autodesk, TrustPilot, OpenTable, CareerBuilder, and more.

About Float

Float is Canada’s only all-in-one corporate cards, reimbursements, and bill pay platform that helps customers:

  • Earn cashback on all categories and save on FX
  • Generate 4% interest on funds held with Float
  • Eliminate expense reports and receipt chasing
  • Close the books 5x faster at the month-end

Want to learn how companies like Clutch, Neo, Knix, and 1,000s of other Canadian businesses on average save 7% of their monthly spend with Float? Get started with Float today by clicking the button below!

Want to learn more before singing up? Book a demo today to learn more about the product from our team!

Best Receipt Inbox Solution to Minimize Employee Chasing

Are you a Canadian business owner tired of chasing employees for missing receipts over email, slack, or tools like HubDoc or Dext? Do you dread the month-end scramble to reconcile expenses? You’re not alone. Let’s explore Best Receipt Inbox Solution to Minimize Employee Chasing and how it can transform your financial processes and save you valuable time and resources.

The Receipt Compliance Challenge in Canadian Businesses

Receipt compliance is a crucial aspect of financial management for Canadian companies. It ensures that all employees, regardless of their position, meet the receipt requirements set by finance teams. However, many businesses struggle with:

  1. Time-consuming receipt collection
  2. Last-minute submission rushes at month-end
  3. Incomplete or lost receipts
  4. Difficulty enforcing expense policies across departments

Are you a Canadian business owner tired of chasing employees for missing receipts? Do you dread the month-end scramble to reconcile expenses? You’re not alone. Let’s explore how modern expense management solutions can transform your financial processes and save you valuable time and resources.

Legacy Receipt Inbox Tools

There are a handful of legacy receipt inbox tools on the market today that many Canadian businesses are still using:

  1. HubDoc
  2. Dext (ReceiptBank)
  3. Gmail/Slack

None of these are the perfect solution as they introduce a ton of manual work for the Finance teams and your employees.

The Receipt Compliance Challenge in Canadian Businesses

Receipt compliance is a crucial aspect of financial management for Canadian companies. It ensures that all employees, regardless of their position, meet the receipt requirements set by finance teams. However, many businesses struggle with:

  1. Time-consuming receipt collection
  2. Last-minute submission rushes at month-end
  3. Incomplete or lost receipts
  4. Difficulty enforcing expense policies across departments

Introducing Float: A Game-Changer for Canadian Expense Management

Float, a Canadian fintech company, offers an innovative solution to these common challenges. Their Expense Policy feature is designed to streamline receipt compliance and simplify expense management for businesses across Canada.

Key Features of Float’s Expense Policy

  1. Customizable Receipt Requirements: Set specific rules for different expense categories.
  2. Automatic Card Pausing: Cards can be automatically paused when receipt compliance isn’t met.
  3. Real-Time Notifications: Employees receive prompts to submit receipts immediately after purchases.
  4. Multi-Level Approval Policies: Assign multiple approval layers for employee spend requests.

How Float’s Receipt Compliance Works for Canadian Businesses

  1. Setup Submission Policies: Define transaction information requirements, including receipts and accounting codes.
  2. Implement Approval Policies: Establish approval workflows tailored to your organization’s structure.
  3. Assign Policies to Cards: Each card is linked to specific submission and approval policies.
  4. Automated Receipt Collection: Employees receive links to upload receipts immediately after purchases.

Benefits for Canadian Companies

  1. Improved Financial Visibility: Real-time insights into company spending.
  2. Reduced Administrative Burden: No more chasing employees for receipts.
  3. Enhanced Compliance: Ensure adherence to company expense policies.
  4. Streamlined Reconciliation: Simplify month-end accounting processes.
  5. Cost Savings: Reduce the risk of fraudulent or non-compliant expenses.

Simple Receipt Submission Process

Float’s user-friendly system makes receipt submission a breeze:

  1. Employee makes a purchase using a Float card.
  2. Float sends an automated text or email link.
  3. Employee uploads the receipt and fills in purchase details.
  4. Finance team can easily review and categorize the expense.

Why Canadian Businesses Should Consider Float

In today’s fast-paced business environment, Canadian companies need efficient financial management tools. Float’s receipt compliance feature offers:

  • Real-time expense tracking
  • Simplified accounting and reconciliation
  • Reduced risk of lost receipts
  • Improved employee accountability
  • Time savings for finance teams and employees alike

Conclusion: Elevate Your Expense Management Game

For Canadian businesses looking to streamline their financial processes, Float’s innovative expense management solution offers a powerful answer to the receipt compliance challenge. By implementing this system, you can free up valuable time, improve financial accuracy, and focus on growing your business.

Ready to transform your expense management? Explore how Float can tailor its solutions to meet the unique needs of your Canadian business and drive smarter financial decisions today.

Float is Canada’s only all-in-one corporate cards, reimbursements, and bill pay platform that helps customers:

  • Earn cashback on all categories and save on FX
  • Generate 4% interest on funds held with Float
  • Eliminate expense reports and receipt chasing
  • Close the books 5x faster at the month-end

Want to learn how companies like Clutch, Neo, Knix, and 1,000s of other Canadian businesses on average save 7% of their monthly spend with Float? Get started with Float today by clicking the button below!

Want to learn more before singing up? Book a demo today to learn more about the product from our team!

Dynamic Duo: Submission and Approval Policies

Fact: Expense policies aren’t always the easiest for employees to understand or follow. From chasing people down for receipts to reconciling transactions for days on end, it’s no wonder the finance team limits corporate spending to a select few.

Plot twist. Float’s about to change the game.

Float allows you to set boundaries for corporate spending directly on Float Cards themselves, with automated rules for transactions that reflect your company’s expense guidelines.

Our new Submission Policies feature lets you create custom policies by expense type and select which transaction information employees are required to submit after a purchase is made, like receipts and accounting codes.

Paired with Float’s multi-level Approval Policies, that allow you to automatically route spend requests to dynamic manager roles and individuals, this unstoppable duo automates and digitizes your company’s expense policies.

Available to Professional users, Admins can create unlimited Submission and Approval Policies that reflect internal company guidelines around corporate spending – such as travel, work from home benefits and entertainment policies. Or, keep things simple with a single Default policy to apply company-wide.

How It Works

Employees request to make a purchase directly in Float, either as a Temporary limit increase for a purchase on an existing card or a new virtual card for a vendor or one-time purchase. Managers are then alerted via email or Slack to approve, edit, or deny the request. If approved, the Spender is notified immediately of their new card details.

When a cardholder makes a purchase on their Float Card, they will be instantly reminded via text, Slack, or email, to upload their receipt along with the information your company requires, like vendors, GL codes, or purchase descriptions. Event better? You can limit the information each cardholder sees when submitting their expense so it’s easy for them to code it themselves.

Float’s new Submission Policies paired with our Approval Policies’ multi-level approval flows make managing team spending a breeze by:

💳 Empowering employees to comply with spending policies

Float allows you to set boundaries for corporate spending with automated rules for transactions that reflect your company’s expense guidelines. You can also define what information is required under specific policies, including receipts and accounting codes. 

🙌🏻 Making month-end a breeze for your finance team 

Float lets you apply specific GL codes to transactions, while encouraging spenders to categorize their transactions so your finance team doesn’t have to. Finance teams no longer have to chase employees down or search for missing information for hundreds of expenses.

If you’re interested in learning more about Float’s complete business spend management solution, check out our Guide to Spend Management.

Excited to see how this new feature works? Login to create your Submission Policies or book a demo with us today! 

Float’s New Smart Corporate Cards Are Here!

With many teams back on the road and in action, our new smart physical corporate cards couldn’t have come at a better time. With enhanced tap functionality paired with speedy spend approvals — Float cards are making real-world business spending easy and better than ever before. 

These new cards empower on-the-go business spending for expenses like:

✈️  Travel (hotels, meals, car rentals and fuel)

💆🏼‍♀️  Monthly employee benefits

🍩  Snacks for the office 

☕️  Monday morning coffee runs 

🤩  And so much more!

Float also allows you to spend in style! 😎 Our new physical cards are made from premium materials in a matte and gloss black finish – a professional and sleek addition to your wallet that you’ll always want to use. 😉

Corporate credit cards on another level ⚡️

Corporate cards have played a crucial role in daily business spending for decades – and so we sought to give them an upgrade! We’re all familiar with traditional corporate cards such as your standard physical Visa or AMEX — the ones that get shared around the office, or even worse, over Slack or email. 🙄 These traditional cards typically come with high monthly fees and very rarely give finance teams any insight or control of company spending. 

At Float, we do things a lot differently. We give companies access to high-limit, hassle-free physical (and virtual) corporate cards integrated with smart spend management software — ultimately giving finance teams greater spend control. Float not only boosts your spend visibility, but it completely eliminates the need for card sharing across your organization. That’s right! You can issue an unlimited amount of cards to employees as needed! 🎉

Physical vs. virtual smart corporate cards 💳

Float’s physical and virtual cards are essentially the same but serve two different purposes:

  • Physical cards are great for real world, on-the-go expenses. You can issue these to anyone within your company with smart functionality like spend limits and automated approval flows.
  • Virtual cards are perfect for online purchases, whether they’re one-time or recurring transactions. Float even allows you to categorize your virtual cards by vendor — like your monthly software subscriptions! 💰 

Smart corporate cards are for everyone 🤝

Traditionally, corporate cards were limited to C-suite team members, executives and founders –  often leaving other employees to use their personal credit cards to make business purchases and be reimbursed at a later date. Red flag 🚩 This “traditional” way of doing things can be a major roadblock when you’re trying to grow and scale.

At Float, we don’t discriminate against corporate spenders. If you’re using Float’s professional plan, you’ll have access to free unlimited physical and virtual cards that can be distributed across your entire company – with no monthly fee. Our automated spend management software also gives managers and finance teams the ability to set spend limits, enforce greater receipt compliance and have full visibility and control over daily spending in real time.

Use your Float card anytime, anywhere 🌍 

Float’s smart corporate cards can be used anywhere that accepts a traditional credit card. We run on the VISA network which means merchants can treat your Float card just like any other card they’re used to. They’re easily accessible, offer high-limits and come with a hassle-free experience from start to finish. No credit checks or personal guarantees needed!

If you’re an existing Float customer, just log into your account and order your new Float cards today. If you’re not a Float customer, become one today 👊🏻 Book a demo or sign up for free!

Better Expense Management with SMS Tracking

Ready to learn more? Reply YES!📱

Allow us to introduce you to our SMS Tracking feature. It gives users the option to add a phone number to their Float account so that every time a request or purchase is made on their Float card, they receive a text with the details of their transaction. This will include the vendor name, approval status and total dollars spent. Shortly after receiving the first text, users will then be notified to text back a picture of their receipt. If the receipt is sent back within 10 minutes, it can be stored in the Float platform and automatically matched with the transaction for easy review. 👨🏻‍💻

It’s the most convenient expense management tool around 👍🏼

With our SMS Tracking feature, employees no longer have to collect and save their expense receipts and managers don’t have to chase them down ever again. Spenders can simply snap a photo of their receipt after every purchase, submit it within Float and toss the physical receipt away. This feature also notifies cardholders of every transaction made via text, making it easier to identify any fraudulent activity or inaccurate charges. 👀  If you’re travelling for work, taking photos of your receipts versus collecting physical receipts will save a lot of time and keep things way more organized.

The Benefits of SMS Tracking

Employees can track their own spending 💸

Users can view and monitor their own corporate spending and see their approvals in real time. For example, if they were to make an online transaction, they could instantly see if the request was approved, make the purchase and confirm whether the purchase went through. Sometimes you don’t realize if a transaction was rejected unless you revisit the website, but this feature makes it 10x easier by instantly notifying spenders if the transaction was completed. ✅

Easy receipt collection and matching 🧾

Employees no longer have to worry about keeping a pile of receipts and submitting them to the finance department at month end. They can simply snap a photo after a purchase is made and send it off for the OCR tooling software to work its magic! If a receipt is submitted within 10 minutes of a purchase, the software can automatically recognize the receipt and match it to a transaction. This will save your finance team hours of valuable time, removing the need to manually collect, review, match and mass upload thousands of receipts!

Allows for seamless spending with no interruptions 💳

Float allows finance managers to pause purchases on corporate cards if a certain amount of receipts haven’t been submitted. It’s a great incentive to hold employees accountable to their spending responsibilities — and the SMS tracking feature is one more way to ensure this. It gives spenders an extra nudge to send in their receipts immediately and prevent their corporate card from being paused. Whether you’re in the middle of a conversation after a business meal or running to catch your flight to a conference in Montreal, it’s easy to forget to send in those receipts. With Float’s text reminders, we can help you stay on top of things for seamless corporate spending!

Smarter expense management for a happier finance team. 🤩

Let’s say it like it is. 🤷🏼‍♂️  When accountants don’t have the right system in place, they’re likely spending endless hours reconciling expenses and matching and collecting receipts. Float’s SMS Tracking feature cuts that time in half and allows for greater accuracy throughout the process. It speeds up reconciliation and makes it easier to manage and review corporate spending over the course of the month.

For more information on our SMS Tracking feature,  book a demo with us today!

3 Common Misconceptions About Corporate Cards for Startups

It’s no secret that difficulty accessing corporate funds is a common challenge for many startups in Canada. Whether you can’t seem to get enough funds for your growing team or are unable to get approved for credit, it’s not as daunting as it seems. We’ve lined up 3 Common Misconceptions About Corporate Cards for Startups in this article to set the record straight with the answers you need.

The Truth Behind Corporate Cards for Startups

Myth #1: All Corporate Cards Are Created Equal

Think again! Corporate cards come in all shapes and sizes, each with its own set of perks and drawbacks.

  • Purchase rates vary widely
  • Card limits can be generous or restrictive
  • Annual fees? Some have ’em, some don’t

Here’s the truth: while traditional banks might take weeks to approve your application (and slap you with high fees), modern fintech solutions are changing the game. Take Float, for example. They offer:

  • Quick 3-day approval process
  • No purchase rate or annual fee
  • 1% cashback on all purchases
  • Automated spend management software

So, next time someone tells you all corporate cards are the same, you’ll know better!

Myth #2: Startups Can’t Get Corporate Cards

Rubbish! While it’s true that traditional banks often give startups the cold shoulder, times are changing.

Many startups struggle with:

  • Lack of credit history
  • Limited collateral
  • Perceived high risk

But here’s the good news: prepaid corporate cards are swooping in to save the day. These cards:

  • Don’t require personal guarantees
  • Have simpler application processes
  • Allow you to issue multiple cards quickly

Pro tip: Look for providers that only require an active business bank account. You’ll be surprised how quickly you can get your team spending responsibly!

Myth #3: Personal Credit Cards Make Good Alternatives for Early Stage Startups

Hold your horses! Using personal cards for business is a recipe for disaster.

Why it’s a bad idea:

  • Blurs the line between personal and business expenses
  • Increases fraud risk
  • Complicates expense management
  • Doesn’t build business credit

Instead, consider a dedicated business card. It’ll keep your accountant happy and your finances crystal clear.

FAQs About Corporate Cards

Q: Can startups really get corporate cards? A: Absolutely! While traditional banks might be hesitant, many fintech companies offer corporate cards tailored for startups.

Q: Are prepaid corporate cards the same as credit cards? A: Not quite. Prepaid cards use your own funds, while credit cards involve borrowing. Both have their place in business finance.

Q: Do corporate cards help build business credit? A: Some do, some don’t. Traditional corporate credit cards often report to credit bureaus, while prepaid cards typically don’t. Check with your provider to be sure.

Q: How quickly can I get a corporate card? A: It varies. Traditional banks might take weeks, but modern providers like Float can get you set up in just a few days.

The Bottom Line: Corporate Cards for Startups Demystified

Corporate cards aren’t one-size-fits-all. There are indeed tailored built products for Canadian Startups, like Float. Thousands of Canadian Startups like Knix, Neo, and Clutch have replaced their old cards with Float’s solution. See our customer stories and hear what our customers have to say about Float for yourself!

Ready to get a corporate card that let you scale? Book a demo with Float today to learn how we can make this process easier for you as you grow and scale.

Product News: Introducing Float’s Slack Integration Feature

Float launched an integration feature that enables users to connect their financial workflows right within Slack. Companies can easily manage their spend and approval processes directly in their internal chats, making it convenient for all departments within the organization. From approving a corporate card to requesting spend, all of it can be done in a matter of minutes. 🤩 We’ve also moved all our notifications into Slack so that you can ditch those lengthy email threads and have interactive engagements using our Slackbot.

Removing any friction from your financial workflows

We always knew that to create the ultimate spend management product of the future, we needed to build an integrated experience that removed as much friction from your financial workflows as possible. ✅ To be successful, we needed to meet our users where they were already spending a lot of their time – on Slack.

Our Slack integration feature allows us to better serve companies with distributed teams by giving them the power to embed their financial workflows within their existing communication channels. So, if you’re operating in a hybrid workplace where some employees are working from home, you can easily approve spend requests and ensure seamless financial communication across all departments. 💸

Users will also get reminders and notifications through Slack when they’re missing receipts and other important information.

Creating a simple onboarding process 👩🏽‍💻

We recognize that onboarding your employees and getting them acquainted with your financial tools and processes isn’t always a smooth transition. The main purpose of Float’s Slack integration feature is to make it easy for spenders in your company to understand, adopt and comply with your financial processes and tools. Given that most people know how to use Slack, getting started with Float is nothing less than seamless.

Spenders can easily submit their spend requests by typing ‘/spend’ directly in Slack. Managers then have the ability to approve or decline requests directly from the Float App within Slack. Managers can also create a shared channel for upcoming top ups and notify the team when they arrive.

Promoting a healthy spending culture 💸

Our Slack integration feature allows companies to manage corporate spending in a more efficient, transparent and quicker way. Since everything is done in one single tool, managers have greater visibility and control over spending, while employees are empowered to make business purchases easily and responsibly. With the ability to view spending frequency data and communicate directly through Slack, this integration enables employees and departments to improve the way they share financial information.

Our team at Float is always looking to make the way you and your teams spend as effortless as possible. The more we can integrate Float into your day-to-day workflows, the more we can make spending for businesses easier across North America.

Book a demo with us today and experience all of the features Float has to offer.

What Are Virtual Cards?

Virtual credit cards represent an innovative evolution in the realm of financial technology, offering a digital alternative to traditional plastic cards while retaining all the functionality and benefits of their physical counterparts. These intangible financial instruments operate on the same fundamental principles as conventional credit cards, allowing users to make purchases and conduct transactions both online and in physical stores that accept card payments.

The key distinguishing feature of virtual credit cards lies in their lack of a tangible, physical form. Unlike traditional credit cards, which are typically manufactured from plastic and embossed with relevant information, virtual cards exist solely in the digital domain. This unique characteristic brings with it a multitude of advantages, chief among them being the immediacy of access.

Best business credit cards

Compare top options, fees and benefits for

Canadian companies.

Benefits of Virtual Cards

  • When a customer issues a virtual credit card, they receive their card details instantaneously. This includes the card number, expiration date, and security code – all the essential information required to make purchases. This immediate availability stands in stark contrast to the process associated with physical cards, where approved applicants often face a waiting period of several days to weeks for their card to be produced, shipped, and delivered via postal services.
  • The digital nature of virtual credit cards also introduces an unprecedented level of flexibility and control over one’s financial resources. Users have the capability to generate multiple virtual card numbers, each linked to their primary account but operating independently. This feature allows for the creation of numerous cards, each with its own predetermined spending limit. Such granular control empowers consumers to better manage their expenses by allocating specific amounts to different virtual cards for various purposes or categories of spending.
  • Moreover, the ability to create multiple virtual cards significantly enhances security measures. By using different virtual card numbers for different merchants or types of transactions, users can effectively compartmentalize their spending. This strategy minimizes the risk associated with potential security breaches or unauthorized uses of card information. In the event that a virtual card number is compromised, the user can simply deactivate that particular number without affecting their primary account or other virtual cards.

This approach stands in stark contrast to the use of a single physical credit card, where every transaction potentially exposes the user’s entire credit limit to risk. With virtual cards, users can limit their exposure by assigning only the necessary funds to each virtual card, thereby safeguarding the majority of their credit limit from potential threats.

Drawbacks of Virtual Cards

  • Virtual cards are intended to protect your identity and information online and are not designed to be used in person at stores. Depending on your use case, virtual cards may not act exactly the same as the physical credit cards you are used to.
  • Getting your hands on Virtual cards in Canada can be difficult, most of the banks in Canada do not offer virtual cards.
  • Finally, you cannot make ATM withdrawals using a virtual card. Most virtual cards cannot be used to withdraw cash from ATMs, limiting access to physical currency when needed.

Virtual Cards for Business

Virtual cards are very useful for businesses who need to let employees use company money. The business can an unlimited number of virtual cards to employees with limits and expiry dates to manage their spending. This not only makes it easier for employees to spend company money and not spend out of pocket, it also ensures that the company credit card info stays safe. Furthermore, during these times of working from home, virtual cards are 2 meter apart compliant!

So if you’re looking to upgrade your business spending practices, try the virtual cards and spend management software Float.