GoCardless, the bank payment company, has launched capital powered by Pipe, to provide direct access to capital financing for its small business customers. The offer is in collaboration with Pipe, a fintech company delivering embedded financial solutions through software and payments partners.Eligible GoCardless customers can now make use of fast, easy-to-access financing, all from within the GoCardless platform. Pipe’s ability to deliver cash advances without the need for personal guarantees or credit checks means that businesses can access capital in as little as one to two business days. This approach is particularly crucial for micro-businesses and ethnic minority owned businesses, many of which may lack the business history or credit scores required in traditional financing. With SMBs accounting for around 60% of employment in the UK, Pipe’s offering has the potential to protect livelihoods in addition to growing the wider economy.The launch of capital powered by Pipe follows a successful pilot programme between the two companies which saw £13.3m advanced to 844 GoCardless merchants in just nine months. This capital has allowed these businesses to invest in growth – enabling them to upgrade equipment, expand services, boost marketing, and strengthen their team – all without the hurdles of traditional funding.Jolawn Victor, Chief Growth Officer at GoCardless, said: “More than half of small businesses suffer from late payments in the UK

Pipe, a fintech company partnering with software platforms to deliver embedded financial solutions for SMBs, today announced its expansion to Canada through a partnership with HouseCall Pro, the go-to software platform for over 45,000 home service companies. Together, the two companies are dramatically improving financial access for the industry by delivering Pipe’s embedded capital through the Housecall Pro platform. The move accelerates Pipe’s strategy of providing capital access to SMBs globally from within the software they already use to run their businesses. With this expansion, Pipe is now live in the U.S., the UK, and Canada, with additional geographies planned in the near future.According to a recent study, 87% of Canadian SMBs are confident in their performance, yet two-thirds struggle with cash flow, and many lack access to capital, hindering their growth and expansion. The situation in Canada is consistent with SMB markets in the United States and the UK, where Pipe Capital is being adopted rapidly to fill the hole left by banks and other traditional capital providers.Housecall Pro offers an industry-leading SaaS operating platform combined with modern financial services to help home service professionals, or “Pros,” run all aspects of their business. Traditionally, businesses like the ones served by Housecall Pro have struggled to access the financing needed to grow —running into long application processes, credit checks, and excessive paperwork

By Punit Dholakia, Global Head of Capital Markets, PipeOver the past few years, several fintechs have closed shop, some after being in business for a very long time. As we look at the years ahead, there’s a paradigm shift in the markets, where neutral rates are expected to be higher. History serves as a reminder to understand why capital-intensive fintechs (whose business model is lending to Main Street in some form) fail and take steps today to ensure a fintech start-up’s longevity.Lower Pricing is not a ProductSeveral fintechs in the past decade have built and scaled similar products with lower pricing being the only differentiator. Assuming “lower cost equals product-market fit” is one of the most common mistakes founders make.Fintechs are most sensitive to rates, and most businesses fail when rates rise unreasonably. However, the recent repricing of rates from 0% to ~5%, while fast, is still not unreasonable from a historical perspective. As inflation started heating up, prudent capital markets fintech teams differentiated themselves from the rest by stress-testing their portfolios and products