Tinvio Offers a Simpler Way to Manage Orders and Payments for Small Businesses

Tinvio is a B2B commerce platform that combines messaging, payments, and financial tools in one place, making business interactions faster, more flexible, and easier to manage. It helps small and medium-sized businesses handle orders and invoices with suppliers, aligning with existing workflows to offer a straightforward way to complete transactions without switching between multiple systems.

Ajay Gopal founded Tinvio in 2019. Drawing from his background in investment banking and product strategy, Ajay saw first-hand how fragmented supply chains and inefficient order cycles created persistent challenges for businesses. Many, especially in food and retail, still relied on text messages, spreadsheets, and paper invoices to manage their day-to-day operations. Communication was disjointed, and payments were often delayed. Tinvio was built to bring structure to this process in a way that felt familiar and easy to adopt.

A Familiar Interface That Fits the Workflow

The company provides a digital workspace where merchants and suppliers can exchange messages, place orders, track invoices and handle payments, all in one place. What sets it apart is the integration of chat with transaction tools. Instead of switching between apps, users stay within a single conversation thread. The interface feels familiar, and that’s intentional. Ajay believed businesses didn’t need another platform with steep learning curves or abstract dashboards. They needed a solution that mirrors their workflow.

By building a system that centers on real-time messaging, Tinvio allows orders and invoices to be tied directly to the communication that initiated them. This makes it easier to follow up, reduce errors and settle disputes. The result is greater visibility for both sides of the transaction. Merchants can track their purchase history, while suppliers see where orders stand and when payments are due.

Gaining Ground With Small Merchants

From the beginning, the company has approached growth carefully. It focused first on solving one problem well: streamlining order and payment communication. That approach gained traction. Within its first year, Tinvio attracted hundreds of merchants across multiple cities in Asia and began expanding into Australia and Taiwan. Most of its customers were small businesses with a high volume of recurring orders—bakeries, restaurants, retailers. These businesses often manage dozens of suppliers at once, and Tinvio helps bring those relationships into one place.

Tinvio’s pricing model is based on usage, and the company has seen high retention rates among early users. Unlike traditional B2B tools, which often target procurement departments at larger firms, Tinvio is designed for operators, people running the shop floor, managing inventory, and responding to day-to-day supply issues. That focus has kept the product rooted in practical use cases.

Payments That Flow With the Conversation

Ajay describes Tinvio as more than a communication tool. Over time, the platform has expanded to include financial services that directly support business operations. By 2021, the company had rolled out features like invoice reminders, payment tracking, and working capital loans. These additions were driven by what users needed most—ways to reduce late payments and smooth out cash flow.

Payments, in particular, have been a pain point in B2B trade. Many merchants deal with delayed invoices, mismatched records, and manual reconciliation. Tinvio simplifies that by integrating payment options into the same interface where orders are placed and confirmed. Merchants can pay suppliers from within the app, and both parties have a clear, time-stamped record of the transaction.

Led by Product and Grounded in Finance

Ajay’s background in finance helped shape this side of the product. Before founding Tinvio, he worked in investment banking at Credit Suisse and on product teams at Rocket Internet. He also earned an MBA from INSEAD and studied technology management at Stanford. These experiences gave him a clear view of both financial systems and operational challenges.

He now leads a team that focuses on steady execution. Tinvio does not chase scale at the expense of reliability. The company has raised funding from investors including Sequoia Capital India, AppWorks, Partech, and MUFG Innovation Partners. With backing in place, it has focused on building tools that serve its existing users before moving into new markets.

During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many supply chains stalled, Tinvio saw order volumes drop. Yet retention remained high. Businesses stuck with the platform because it helped them stay organized, even when demand was unpredictable. That period tested the company’s durability, and it came through stronger, with more clarity about what mattered to its users.

Building With Users, Not Around Them

Ajay credits this resilience to the company’s focus on a real problem rather than an abstract one. He said many businesses using Tinvio are not interested in buzzwords. They want to know where their orders are, whether they’ve been paid, and how to avoid miscommunication. Tinvio gives them that clarity without asking them to change how they work.

The platform is also flexible. It integrates with common tools like email, SMS, and even WhatsApp, making it easier for staff to keep using what they know. Tinvio captures and organizes those messages so nothing falls through the cracks. That flexibility helps the platform scale into diverse environments—from food distributors in Bangkok to supply stores in Sydney.

Ajay still spends time working directly with users. He listens to what’s working, what’s confusing, and where friction still exists. He describes his job as part investor relations, part product strategy, and part human relations. He believes software should reflect the actual behavior of the people using it, not force them into new habits for the sake of digitization.

As Tinvio matures, it continues to refine how payments and orders interact. The company is exploring deeper integrations with accounting systems and offering tools for group order coordination, especially useful for food and beverage operators with multiple outlets. These features extend the value of the platform without changing its core.

Ajay Gopal, CEO, Tinvio

Our goal was to simplify, not disrupt. Businesses needed clarity, not another system to learn.