Why 98% of B2B Payments Still Fail at the Human Level

Duncan Barrigan left his high-profile Chief Growth Officer role at GoCardless, a $2.2 billion payments platform, to solve what he calls the biggest challenge in financial technology: broken B2B payments. This $70 trillion market is stuck, with 98% of B2B payments handled by outdated, manual processes. Rideshare giants deploy 50-person teams just to manage accounts receivable, exposing an enormous need for modern payment processing solutions.Manual tasks and communication breakdowns are costing companies millions in wasted time. The core issue isn’t just sending or receiving money—it’s the chaos and disputes that slow down invoice payments and paralyze AP teams. Duncan saw that true progress means automating the entire workflow. Using the power of AI and AP automation, Lunos builds agents that handle accounts receivable at scale. These AI-powered tools negotiate, track, and resolve payment disputes without errors, never missing a detail, and supporting efficient electronic payments for modern businesses.1️⃣ Start with monitor mode first to build trust and understand AR patterns before advancing to suggest or act modes.2️⃣ Prevent disputes through real-time records instead of tracking payment promises in weekly spreadsheet downloads.3️⃣ Let email handle customer communication rather than forcing customers onto new portals that create friction.4️⃣ Use relationship-specific data for forecasting instead of broad machine learning patterns across different companies.5️⃣ Integrate like a human worker by connecting with existing ERPs, CRMs, and communication tools without forcing massive changes.GUESTDuncan Barrigan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/duncanbarrigan/LUNOSWebsite: www.lunos.aiLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lunos-ai/FINTECH CONFIDENTIALPodcast: https://fintechconfidential.com/listenNewsletter: https://fintechconfidential.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintechconfidentialX: https://x.com/FTconfidentialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fintechconfidentialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/fintechconfidentialSUPPORTERSUnder - Streamlines application and underwriting with digital PDF processing - https://under.io/ftc Skyflow - Zero trust data privacy vault with simple API calls - https://skyflowsecure.com Hawk - AI tools for real-time fraud detection and transaction monitoring - https://gethawkai.comABOUTDuncan Barrigan is a technology entrepreneur and executive. He's the Founder and CEO of Lunos, the AI partner that manages receivables just like you would. Well, how you would if you worked on it 24/7, never forgot anything and read every message ever sent to you - you get the idea.He has spent more than a decade helping businesses get paid, previously as Chief Product Officer and Chief Growth Officer at GoCardless for eight years, playing a leading role in its rise from a UK-based direct debit provider to a global bank payments unicorn worth $2.2bn, with revenue growing for $1m to well over $100m ARR. Prior to that he worked as a consultant, leading projects advising PE & VC clients on fintech and financial services M&A and strategy at Oliver Wyman. He has an MA in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge.Lunos is an AI-powered accounts receivable platform that integrates with enterprise systems to automate tracking, communication, and resolution of unpaid invoices. The system operates like a human AR agent, managing customer interactions and adapting to responses in real time.Tedd Huff is the Founder of Voalyre a professional services and Advisory firm focused on global payments and banking. He is also a video podcast host and executive producer on the Fintech Confidential network.Over the past 25+ years, he has contributed to FinTech startups as an Advisory Board Member, Co-Founder, and Chief Experience Officer, providing strategic and tactical direction for Global Payments OpenEdge, Heartland Payments, Nuvei, and TSYS, among others, focusing on growth while delivering innovation, process improvements and user experience-driven value to simplify the complexity of payments.DD3, Media: DD3 Media is a media creation, management, and production company delivering engaging content globally*CHAPTERS*00:00 Highlights01:07 Under (sponsor)01:55 Meet Duncan Barrigan02:50 Communication Chaos in Business04:14 Duncan's Career Shift05:19 The Light Bulb Moment06:51 The Complexity of B2B Payments09:08 Building AI to Handle Real-World Chaos17:18 Skyflow (sponsor)19:13 The Importance of Accurate Records28:27 The Future of AI in B2B Payments31:57 Advice for FinTech Founders33:14 Conclusion and Final Thoughts34:53 Hawk Ai (sponsor)35:39 Disclaimer