Fintechs Aim to Join Small Business Teams as Employees

SoFi, Square, and Capital One each shared new developments and research for their small business clients within the span of a week, with a common thread of competing to help small business owners save time by becoming a bigger part of their day-to-day operations. The companies are focusing on different areas, but they’re all working towards the same goal. SoFi launched new loans, Square unveiled AI integrations, and Capital One published new research.

Three companies, one focus area

SoFi’s new small business loans are designed around speed, with eligible businesses able to check their eligibility in minutes and receive funding as soon as 24 hours after approval. The company is betting that access to capital should happen with the same ease as the personal financial products members already use. CEO Anthony Noto noted that entrepreneurs’ financial lives don’t stop at personal goals; they extend to the businesses they’re building.

Square is tackling another bottleneck: customer acquisition. Its new ChatGPT and Claude integrations help merchants appear inside AI-powered conversations, while its Alexa+ partnership extends that discovery into voice commerce. Instead of asking merchants to keep up with every emerging AI channel, Square wants to make sure they’re present wherever customers are making purchasing decisions.

Integrated financial tools

Capital One’s latest research ties these ideas together, examining how small businesses are handling today’s economy and why integrated financial tools are becoming increasingly central to their growth. More than 75% of small business owners say they’re confident in their ability to grow, while 69% believe they’re already positioned for expansion. Yet nearly three-quarters say fragmented financial systems make it difficult to manage and predict cash flow.

According to Shena Ashley, president of Capital One’s Insights Center, today’s entrepreneurs are increasingly looking for integrated financial tools that give them greater visibility and control over their businesses. This shift towards integrated tools is driven by the need for small businesses to save time and increase efficiency. They are looking for tools that can help them simplify their financial operations.

As the financial services industry continues to evolve, it’s likely that we’ll see more fintechs and banks offering integrated platforms that combine financing, payments, customer acquisition, and financial management into a single workflow. This could have a significant impact on the way small businesses operate, allowing owners to focus on growth and customer relationships rather than administrative tasks. For instance, automating payments can help reduce the workload of business owners.

Time as a competitive advantage

The three announcements tackle different problems, but they’re chasing the same outcome. SoFi reduces the time it takes to access capital. Square reduces the effort required to acquire customers. Capital One argues that integrated financial tools reduce the administrative burden of running a business. That’s an ongoing evolution in how financial services in the SMB space are being positioned.

Banks and fintechs are moving beyond standalone products, toward operating systems that combine financing, payments, customer acquisition, and financial management into a single workflow. Increasingly, that’s what the next employee looks like: a financial platform that handles more of the operational workload, giving business owners more time to focus on customers, growth, and the decisions only they can make.

For small businesses, this could mean the difference between success and failure, as they’re able to allocate their time and resources more effectively. This is a significant advantage, as it allows them to focus on what matters most.

Small businesses may see significant benefits from using these integrated platforms, including increased efficiency, reduced costs, and improved cash flow management. The companies that can provide these benefits will likely be the ones that succeed in the long term, as they’ll be able to offer small businesses a more supportive financial solution, such as providing digital approvals for payments.