Today, Flywire Corporation (Flywire) (Nasdaq: FLYW) a global payments enablement and software company, is announcing a partnership with FranConnect, the market leader in franchise management technology, to streamline the payment experience for franchisors looking to grow their businesses both domestically and internationally. FranConnect is expected to extend Flywire’s B2B payments platform through its marketplace to enable franchisors to easily collect royalties and fees from franchisees in different currencies around the world.

The partnership between Flywire and FranConnect is designed to provide franchisors more efficiency and access to analytics that enable them to accelerate the payment collection process. Flywire integrates directly into the FranConnect software, helping franchisors to automatically power every transaction, ranging from the initial payments required to sign a franchise agreement, all the way through to managing the ongoing royalty and fee payments from franchisees. Because franchisors can leverage Flywire all from within the familiar FranConnect platform, they can benefit from the ability to easily track and access payments, and to quickly and efficiently settle and reconcile payments.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Flywire and integrate their B2B payments platform into our marketplace,” said Gabby Wong, CEO, FranConnect. “Our brands leverage the FranConnect platform for everything from unit sales and territory development, to brand consistency, performance management, and royalty management but a critical missing piece is providing a seamless payment experience, for everything from set-up fees to managing ongoing royalty fees. Flywire enables us to meet that need, and our users will look to their payments capabilities to help them open-up new growth areas both domestically and abroad.”

The economic impact of the franchise industry is significant. The most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau suggests that 10.5% of all businesses are franchises, contributing $790 billion to the U.S. economy and creating more than 8 million jobs. Franchising is also one of the most common growth strategies for businesses in the U.S. as it enables them to expand into new regions without significant overhead. And increasingly, U.S. franchisors are looking to expand their business internationally to pursue revenue opportunities. The latest data from FRANdata expects franchises’ gross domestic product contribution to the overall economy to be 3% in 2022, with a growth higher than the pre-pandemic level, totalling a $501 billion economic contribution.

Despite this growth potential, it can be difficult for franchisors to scale internationally. They face common headwinds, such as regulatory and statutory requirements in different countries. Additionally, the process of issuing invoices and collecting payments from multiple countries, in different payment types and often in different currencies is highly complex, and traditionally fraught with inefficiencies. In a recent Flywire survey, 88% of surveyed finance professionals said the complexities of collecting cross-border payments impacts their ability to grow internationally. Specifically, 95% say if they could deal with exchange rates in an easier way, they could accelerate their global expansion efforts.

The integration between Flywire and FranConnect enables franchisors to overcome these common hurdles by providing a streamlined payment experience that can be tailored to their franchisees around the world. Powered by Flywire’s global payments network that supports more than 140 currencies in more than 240 global countries and territories, the payment experience through Flywire enables franchisees to pay in their local currency, and in their preferred payment method. Direct integration with FranConnect, as well as with other systems of record like NetSuite and other enterprise resource planning software, helps franchisors to easily collect royalties and fees on time and with full transparency into the payment statuses. Additional benefits for franchisors may include lower international processes fees, faster cash conversions, shorter collections cycle, and a reduction in days sales outstanding.

“We’re thrilled to partner with FranConnect as the first payments provider to help streamline both international and domestic payments for their network of franchisors,” said Greg Leven, SVP of B2B, Flywire. “With our powerful integration, the 1,500 franchise brands who use FranConnect to manage their operations can also rely on Flywire to power their critical transactions, all within a familiar interface.”

“My experience with global remittances before Flywire was characterized by payments being a number of days late, being hit with hidden fees, and managing a difficult reconciliation process,” said Jim Perkins, EVP International Development and Support, Dickey's Barbeque Pit. “Working with and incorporating Flywire as the payment option has been a productivity improvement for my partners, as well as a clear path to timely and financial clarity for all involved.”