Bank payment company GoCardless has launched a new embedded finance solution in collaboration with Pipe that provides direct access to capital financing for small business customers, following a pilot.
The new service, ‘capital powered by Pipe’, sits within the GoCardless platform.
Through the solution, eligible GoCardless small business customers will be able to access capital in one to two business days based on Pipe’s ability to deliver cash advances without the need for personal guarantees or credit checks.
GoCardless and Pipe said this approach is particularly valuable to micro-businesses and ethnic minority-owned businesses, many of which “may lack the business history or credit scores required in traditional financing”.
According to official figures, there were 5.5 million SMEs in the UK in 2024, accounting for 60% of UK employment.
Jolawn Victor, chief growth officer at GoCardless
Jolawn Victor, chief growth officer at GoCardless, said that with more than half of small businesses affected by late payments in the UK, it has a huge impact on cash flow, which she called “the lifeblood of any business”.
“For over a decade, we’ve helped our customers improve their cash flow by getting paid on time — and now with the launch of capital powered by Pipe, we can go a step further to offer Pipe’s fast, easy-to-access financing directly within our platform,” she said.
“This will provide merchants another way to strengthen their finances, ultimately giving them more opportunities to grow.”
The launch of ‘capital powered by Pipe’ follows a pilot programme between the two companies, which advanced £13.3 million to 844 GoCardless merchants over a nine-month period.
The capital borrowed by these businesses enabled them to upgrade equipment, expand their services, boost marketing efforts and strengthen their team.
Luke Voiles, chief executive officer of Pipe, added: “We’ve heard from small businesses how hard it is to secure working capital due to overly complex application processes, strict lending criteria and risk aversion from banks.
“Through our partnership with GoCardless, we can help businesses overcome these obstacles by making it fast and simple to access funding, directly within a platform they know and trust.”
Listen to Hamish Wood, vice president, customer success at GoCardless and Dave Campbell, operations lead at Tembo, on the Open Banking Expo Unplugged podcast, as they discuss how UK businesses can benefit from being “early adopters” of new payment technology, such as Open Banking.
