BlackLine Acquires NetNow, Expanding Invoice-to-Cash with Intelligent Customer Onboarding and Credit Risk Management

BlackLine adds NetNow’s AI-based credit and onboarding tools to connect early customer risk decisions with downstream financial operations.

Rhea-AI Summary

BlackLine (BL) has acquired NetNow, an AI-enabled B2B customer onboarding and credit risk management platform, to expand its Invoice-to-Cash capabilities and advance its Agentic Financial Operations strategy.

NetNow digitizes and automates upstream processes that occur before trading and invoicing, including customer credit applications, trade references, risk assessment, fraud detection, and ongoing credit monitoring. Integrating these functions extends BlackLine’s reach further into the customer financial lifecycle, linking early credit decisions more closely with downstream receivables, working capital, and cash flow outcomes. NetNow’s platform provides digital onboarding, automated credit intelligence that combines multiple data sources, AI-driven risk and fraud detection, and portfolio monitoring so credit teams can track changing customer risk and respond as conditions evolve.

Positive

• Acquisition of NetNow broadens BlackLine’s Invoice-to-Cash offering into upstream credit and onboarding processes.
• AI-enabled credit intelligence and fraud detection add customer and risk insight to BlackLine’s Agentic Financial Operations platform.

Negative

• None.

Market Context

-8% was BlackLine’s 24-hour move after its Aug 05 Invoice-to-Cash partnership with Nuvei, providing ...

Analysis

-8% was BlackLine’s 24-hour move after its Aug 05 Invoice-to-Cash partnership with Nuvei, providing a directly relevant prior market comparison for this acquisition’s upstream credit capabilities.

Historical Context

1 past event · Latest: Aug 05

1 event

1. Aug 05

   Invoice-to-Cash partnership

   24h Move

   -8.0%

   Embedded payments expanded BlackLine’s Invoice-to-Cash workflow across enterprise customer payment processes.

24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.

Key Terms

invoice-to-cash, credit risk management, trade references, credit monitoring

4 terms

invoice-to-cash financial

"expanding BlackLine’s Invoice-to-Cash capabilities"

Invoice-to-cash is the process a business follows from sending a bill to a customer until the payment is received and recorded; it includes issuing invoices, tracking them, collecting payment and updating accounts. Investors care because the speed and reliability of this process determine how quickly a company converts sales into usable cash—like how fast a homeowner gets paid after completing a job—which affects liquidity, ability to pay debts, fund growth and the risk of uncollected revenue.

credit risk management financial

"an AI-enabled B2B customer onboarding and credit risk management solution"

The set of policies, processes and tools a lender, bank, or financial firm uses to identify, measure, monitor and control the risk that borrowers or counterparties will fail to repay what they owe. It covers credit scoring, loan limits, collateral, monitoring and provisions for losses. For investors it matters because how well credit risk is managed affects expected loan losses, a firm's earnings stability and capital needs—like screening tenants and holding deposits to reduce the chance of unpaid rent.

trade references financial

"from customer credit applications and trade references to risk assessment"

Trade references are accounts or contacts supplied by a company or individual that show their history of buying from and paying suppliers, often including credit terms, payment timeliness, and outstanding balances. Investors and lenders use them like employment references to judge how reliably a business meets its short‑term obligations and manages supplier relationships, which signals creditworthiness and short‑term financial health.

credit monitoring financial

"ongoing credit monitoring"

Credit monitoring is a service that continuously watches a person’s or company’s credit reports and scores and sends alerts about changes—such as new accounts, inquiries, or signs of fraud—like a smoke alarm for your credit file. Investors care because it can be a recurring revenue product for businesses and, conversely, gaps or breaches in credit monitoring can lead to customer losses, regulatory fines and credit-risk signals that affect a company’s financial health and stock value.

AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.

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Acquisition brings critical upstream credit capabilities to the BlackLine Agentic Financial Operations Platform™, connecting customer risk decisions more closely with receivables, working capital, and cash flow

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BlackLine, Inc. (Nasdaq: BL) today announced it has acquired NetNow, an AI-enabled B2B customer onboarding and credit risk management solution, expanding BlackLine’s Invoice-to-Cash capabilities and advancing its vision for intelligent, trusted financial operations across the Office of the CFO.

NetNow enables organizations to digitize and automate critical processes that occur before trading commences and an invoice is created – from customer credit applications and trade references to risk assessment, fraud detection, and ongoing credit monitoring. Bringing these capabilities to BlackLine extends its Invoice-to-Cash solution further upstream in the customer financial lifecycle, connecting credit decisions more closely with downstream receivables processes and the financial outcomes they influence.

“Credit is one of the earliest and most consequential financial decisions a company makes in the customer relationship, yet the process remains remarkably manual for many organizations,” said Andy Lilley, Managing Director, Invoice-to-Cash at BlackLine. “Bringing NetNow into BlackLine and integrating NetNow’s capabilities into our Invoice-to-Cash portfolio gives us an opportunity to connect those decisions with the financial operations that follow, applying greater intelligence across the lifecycle while maintaining the trust, transparency, and control finance requires.”

Modernizing Customer Onboarding and Credit Management

For many organizations, customer onboarding and credit management remain fragmented across paper forms, PDFs, emails, spreadsheets, external data sources, and manual reviews. NetNow brings these activities together through a digital credit management platform with capabilities including:

• Digital customer onboarding and credit applications that replace manual, paper- and PDF-based processes and centralize customer information.
• Automated credit intelligence that brings together trade references, third-party credit information, banking data, and other relevant inputs to support credit decisions.
• AI-enabled risk and fraud detection designed to identify potential risks, support more informed credit decisions, and reduce exposure to potential losses.
• Ongoing portfolio monitoring that enables credit teams to identify changes in customer risk and respond as conditions evolve.
  
  

Together, these capabilities enable more informed and efficient credit decisions that can influence revenue, risk, working capital, and cash flow.

The acquisition also advances BlackLine’s Agentic Financial Operations strategy by adding customer and credit risk intelligence to the financial processes that BlackLine can connect and orchestrate. As AI assumes a greater role across financial operations, BlackLine is focused on enabling intelligence finance can trust, with the transparency, human oversight, and auditability required for critical financial decisions.

“We share a belief that credit teams should have better information, smarter technology, and more efficient ways to manage customer risk”, said Nauman Hafeez, NetNow CEO. “Together with BlackLine, we can connect that intelligence with a much broader financial operations platform and create even greater value for customers.”

For more information about BlackLine and its Invoice-to-Cash solutions, visit BlackLine.com.

Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati and Blake, Cassels & Graydon served as legal advisors to BlackLine. Lightning Partners served as NetNow’s exclusive financial advisors and Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP served as NetNow’s legal advisors in this transaction.

About BlackLine

BlackLine (Nasdaq: BL) provides the trust infrastructure where finance drives the agentic era with intelligence, integrity, and trust. The BlackLine Agentic Financial Operations Platform™, powered by Studio360 and Verity™ AI, is where the Office of the CFO puts AI to work, governs it at every step, and guarantees its integrity.

By unifying data, embedding AI, and engineering trust into every action, BlackLine moves finance and accounting beyond reporting on the business to orchestrating it in real time. Supported by industry-leading R&D investment and world-class security practices, nearly 4,300 customers across multiple industries partner with BlackLine to lead their organizations into the future. For more information, visit BlackLine.com.

Contact

For BlackLine

10Fold Communications

BlackLine@10fold.com

FAQ

AI-generated questions and answers. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.

What specific capabilities does NetNow add to BlackLine’s platform?

NetNow adds digital customer onboarding and credit applications, automated credit intelligence that consolidates trade references, third-party credit data, banking information and other inputs, AI-enabled risk and fraud detection, and ongoing portfolio monitoring to track changes in customer risk over time.

How does this acquisition support BlackLine’s Agentic Financial Operations strategy?

The acquisition introduces customer and credit risk intelligence into the financial processes BlackLine can connect and orchestrate. The company said this supports its focus on AI that finance teams can trust, with transparency, human oversight, and auditability for critical financial decisions across the Office of the CFO.

How does connecting credit decisions with receivables benefit BlackLine customers?

By extending Invoice-to-Cash further upstream, BlackLine can connect early credit decisions with downstream receivables and collections processes. This linkage is intended to support more informed and efficient credit decisions that can influence revenue, risk exposure, working capital, and cash flow.

Which firms advised the parties on the BlackLine–NetNow transaction?

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Blake, Cassels & Graydon served as legal advisors to BlackLine. Lightning Partners acted as NetNow’s exclusive financial advisor, and Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP served as NetNow’s legal advisor.