On The Slope

About On The Slope

On The Slope, commercially known as Slope, is a B2B payments platform that provides order-to-cash automation for enterprise companies. Founded in 2021 by CEO Lawrence Lin Murata and CPO Alice Deng, the San Francisco-based company aims to digitize the B2B economy. The inspiration for Slope came from Murata's experience with his family's wholesale business, where he witnessed the manual and inefficient processes of B2B transactions, which were often conducted via cash or checks and tracked offline.

Both founders are second-time Y Combinator participants. Murata, a Stanford graduate, previously founded Newton Technologies, an AI company that was later acquired. Deng, a UC Berkeley graduate and former Dropbox product manager, co-founded Glisten AI (YC W20) before starting Slope. They launched Slope after iterating on numerous ideas and pivoting from their initial concept at the beginning of their YC batch.

Slope's core offering is a platform that simplifies B2B payments through AI-driven tools. Initially focused on providing "buy now, pay later" (BNPL) options for wholesalers, the company expanded its services to include a suite of tools for the entire B2B buying and selling process. These tools automate workflows such as checkout, customer and vendor risk assessment, embedded short-term financing, and payment reconciliation. A key feature is SlopeScore, an AI-powered cash flow underwriting system designed specifically for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to enable real-time credit decisions. The company has also developed SlopeAI, making its underwriting models and Large Language Models (LLMs) like Slope TransFormer available to financial institutions and wholesalers.

The company's business model revolves around modernizing the order-to-cash process for corporate enterprises and mid-market businesses. It serves clients across various sectors and is used on platforms like Alibaba.com, where it powers pay-later options for eligible U.S. buyers. In July 2024, Slope announced a strategic partnership with J.P. Morgan Payments, which included a $65 million investment of equity and debt, bringing Slope's total funding to $252 million. This partnership allows Slope to join the J.P. Morgan Payments Partner Network, providing its short-term financing solutions to J.P. Morgan's extensive client base. Other prominent investors include Union Square Ventures, Sam Altman, Y Combinator, and Tiger Global.