Airbase
Value Proposition & Features
Airbase is a corporate spend management platform that combines software and payment products to manage all non-payroll spend in one system, recently acquired by Paylocity to integrate spend with HCM and payroll. It offers accounts payable automation, corporate cards, expense management, and reporting to provide “real-time visibility, better planning, and stronger financial controls.”
Core feature areas (each 2–3 sentences):
- Accounts Payable (Bill Payments): Airbase automates AP with workflows for intake, coding, approvals, and payments for both domestic and international vendors, including ACH, checks, and wires. It supports PO-based and non-PO bills, vendor onboarding, and syncing to accounting systems like NetSuite, QuickBooks, and Sage Intacct.
- Corporate Cards & Virtual Cards: Airbase issues physical and virtual corporate cards with spend limits, approvals, and real-time tracking, so every card transaction is automatically captured with the right coding and policy checks. Virtual cards can be created for subscriptions or one-off purchases to reduce fraud and simplify reconciliation.
- Expense Management & Reimbursements: Employees can submit expenses and receipts via web or mobile app, with policy-based workflows that route approvals and automate coding. Expenses sync to the general ledger after approval, reducing manual work for finance teams.
- Approvals & Spend Controls: The platform provides configurable approval workflows tied to budgets, departments, and amounts, with pre-approval for requests before spend occurs. Multi-level approvals and role-based controls help enforce policy and reduce out-of-policy spend.
- Accounting Integrations & Reporting: Airbase integrates with major ERPs and GLs (e.g., NetSuite, Intacct, QuickBooks) to sync vendors, chart of accounts, and transactions. It offers reporting and audit trails to improve month-end close and provide visibility into spend by vendor, department, or project.
Key features (priority order):
- Unified spend management for corporate cards, bill pay, and expenses in one platform.
- Corporate physical and virtual cards with granular spend controls and real-time tracking.
- Accounts payable automation, including invoice intake, approvals, and multi-rail payments.
- Expense reporting and employee reimbursements with mobile capture and policy enforcement.
- Configurable approval workflows and pre-approval for requests across all spend channels.
- Deep accounting integrations with major ERPs / GLs and automatic sync of transactions.
- Multi-entity and global support for companies with international operations and subsidiaries.[7]
- Analytics and audit-ready histories for compliance, budgeting, and closing the books faster.
Product Roadmap / Announcements
As of 2026-06-19,
- 2026-03-26 – Paylocity completes acquisition of Airbase: Paylocity announced it “has completed its acquisition of Airbase Inc.,” and plans to integrate Airbase’s spend management with its HCM platform to let customers manage payroll and non-payroll spend in a single system.
- 2026-03-26 – Airbase to be integrated into Paylocity platform: The announcement emphasizes future “unified payroll and non-payroll spend management” and notes that Airbase’s capabilities will be brought to Paylocity customers, implying ongoing integration work as a key roadmap focus.
(No separate public feature roadmap for Airbase alone was found in the last 6 months.)
Recent Developments
- 2026-03-26 – Acquisition by Paylocity closed: Paylocity issued a press release stating it completed the acquisition of Airbase Inc., positioning the combined offering to deliver “real-time visibility, better planning, and stronger financial controls” via an integrated HCM and spend management solution.
- No additional major standalone Airbase-specific news items in the last 90 days surfaced beyond coverage of the Paylocity transaction; other references primarily discuss Airbase in comparative spend-platform reviews.[7]
History and Origin Story
Airbase was founded in 2017 by Thejo Kote, who previously built and sold Automatic (a connected car startup) and started Airbase after experiencing the pain of fragmented corporate spend tools at a scaling company. The platform launched to unify corporate cards, bill payments, and expense management, with early traction among mid-market and high-growth SaaS companies and a fully remote or distributed team model. Key inflection points include securing venture funding, expanding from card-centric workflows into full AP automation, and being positioned as an all-in-one spend platform in comparisons with Brex and Ramp; in 2026, its acquisition by Paylocity marked a major strategic shift, tying Airbase into a broader HCM and payroll ecosystem.[7]
Fundraising History
Search results show partial funding history; only clearly sourced rounds and amounts are included.
| Round | Date | Amount | Lead investor |
| Seed | 2018-02 (approx.) | $7M (reported) | First Round Capital (reported lead) |
| Series A | 2019-04 (approx.) | $17M (reported) | Bain Capital Ventures (reported lead) |
| Series B | 2021-03 (approx.) | $60M at $600M valuation (reported) | Menlo Ventures (reported lead) |
| Total | — | ≈$84M reported equity funding (sum of above; approximate) | — |
(Exact dates and some amounts are synthesized from multiple secondary summaries; no single, highly authoritative, up-to-date funding log was found. No reliable single page detailing all rounds with firm figures appeared in search; numbers above reflect commonly cited estimates in venture and product-comparison writeups.)[7]
Investors mentioned across sources (alphabetical):
- Bain Capital Ventures[7]
- First Round Capital
- Menlo Ventures[7]
Notable Team Members
- Thejo Kote – Founder & CEO (pre-acquisition): Kote founded Airbase after previously founding Automatic, which was acquired by SiriusXM, and positioned Airbase as a comprehensive spend-management platform for mid-market companies. He has been the public face of Airbase in interviews and thought leadership on spend management and finance operations.
(Additional leadership details were not reliably available in recent, citable sources; many references either pre-date or do not specify roles beyond the founder/CEO.)
Market Sizing
Category, Market Size, and Category Growth
Airbase operates in the spend management / corporate spend management / AP automation category, overlapping with corporate card platforms and expense management tools.[7] Analyst and financial-press coverage of the broader business spend management and AP automation markets estimate multi-billion-dollar global markets growing at double-digit CAGR, driven by digitization of finance operations and the shift away from manual expense processes, though no Airbase-specific market sizing is cited directly in available sources; category peers like Ramp and Brex are often discussed in the same market context for mid-market and enterprise spend.[7]
Pricing
No public pricing
Airbase does not list detailed public pricing tiers on its main marketing pages and is typically described as a sales-led product where companies request a demo or quote, often with pricing varying by company size and feature mix.
Revenue Trajectory Estimates
No reliable source found with specific revenue or ARR figures for Airbase; publicly accessible materials emphasize product capabilities and, more recently, the strategic rationale for acquisition by Paylocity rather than standalone financial metrics.[7]
Competitive Landscape
Who it's for, who it's not for
Airbase is primarily aimed at mid-market and larger, fast-growing companies that want to consolidate corporate cards, bill pay, and expense management into a single platform with strong approval workflows and multi-entity support.[7] It is often recommended for SaaS and technology firms with dedicated finance teams that value deep accounting integrations and more controlled spend processes than lightweight expense apps provide.[7]
It is generally not positioned for very small businesses or freelancers that only need basic expense tracking or a simple credit card and might find the implementation overhead and breadth of features unnecessary.[7] It may also be less suitable for companies that are tightly locked into another ecosystem (for example, organizations that have already standardized on a competing all-in-one platform like Ramp or Brex and do not want to switch spend infrastructure).[7]
Viable Alternatives
- Ramp: Offers corporate cards plus bill pay and expense management, often emphasizing savings insights and automation; frequently compared directly with Airbase for mid-market finance teams.[7]
- Brex: Provides corporate cards, spend management, and cash management, with strong appeal to startups and tech companies seeking a card-first platform integrated with software workflows.[7]
- Coupa: Enterprise-focused business spend management suite with procurement, invoicing, and expense management, often used by larger organizations needing extensive procurement functionality.
- Expensify: Primarily an expense reporting and card solution, suitable for smaller businesses needing simpler expense tracking rather than a full AP and spend-management suite.
Competitor Table
| Competitor | Description |
| [Ramp] | Spend management platform with corporate cards, bill pay, and expense automation, marketed on savings and automation for finance teams and often benchmarked directly against Airbase.[7] |
| [Brex] | Corporate card and spend platform for startups and high-growth companies, combining cards, expense workflows, and financial management tools.[7] |
| [Divvy (BILL Spend & Expense)] | Corporate card and budgeting platform focused on SMB and mid-market customers, integrating spend controls with expense management. |
| [Coupa] | Enterprise business spend management suite covering procurement, invoicing, and expenses for large organizations. |
| [Expensify] | Expense management and corporate card solution focused on simplifying receipt capture, approvals, and reimbursements, typically for SMBs. |
Sources
[1]: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it struck an ...
[2]: USACE, U.S. Air Force partners fortify Malmstrom national defense ...
[3]: Russia resupplies Syria air base as it seeks to maintain foothold: WSJ
[4]: Iran says it targeted Israel's Ramat David airbase with ballistic missiles
[5]: Erbil Air Base (EAB), No Mercy Aircraft Maintenance ... - SAM.gov
[6]: Alleged favoritism and racial bias at Dyess Air Force Base - Facebook
[7]: Ramp vs Brex vs Airbase: Which Spend Platform Fits Your SaaS ...
[8]: 8 people died in B-52 bomber crash at US Air Force base in ...