AvidXchange

AvidXchange

AvidXchange was founded in 2000 in Charlotte, North Carolina by Michael Praeger, who had previously co-founded PlanetResume.com and served as an associate at Summit Partners. The firm set out to digitize how middle-market companies receive, manage, and pay their bills. Praeger has since guided the company through significant milestones, including multiple acquisitions, a public listing, and expansion to more than 1,500 employees supporting over 8,000 customers and 1.5 million suppliers. The firm provides AI-augmented accounts-payable and payment-automation software purpose-built for mid-market businesses. Its platform integrates with more than 200 accounting systems and ERPs, automating invoice processing and supplier payments. The offering spans a fully managed AP-infrastructure product for ERP platforms such as Acumatica — an embedded payments capability announced in 2026 (per AvidXchange press release, 2026) — alongside supplier-enablement tools like the AvidPay Network, which supports virtual credit cards, ACH-based AvidPay Direct, and mailed checks. Acquisitions of FastPay, Core Associates, and BankTEL Systems have widened the vertical reach into media, construction, and community association management. Following a January 2023 elevation of Dan Drees to President — the firm's most senior operational change in recent years — AvidXchange continues to scale out of its single Charlotte headquarters. The company processes payments for over 1.5 million unique suppliers and handles transactions across North America. Praeger remains active in the Young Presidents’ Organization and sits on the Georgetown McDonough School of Business board, but no dedicated philanthropic vehicle or separate family-office structure has been publicly disclosed. AvidXchange’s structural differentiator is its two-sided network: it owns the supplier payment rails inside a vertical-SaaS model, capturing revenue from both software subscriptions and payment transaction volume. Unlike pure software vendors, the firm operates as a payment processor embedded inside its customers’ existing ERPs, creating high switching costs. This coupling of AP workflow software with a proprietary payments network shapes an enterprise-fintech hybrid that is uncommon at its mid-market scale.