Liberis and Google chart a new course for SME finance with AI and embedded solutions

In a pivotal event yesterday, fintech innovator Liberis, in partnership with Google, unveiled groundbreaking advancements in AI-powered financial solutions and embedded finance, setting a new benchmark for how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) access vital capital. The collaborative “AI event” at Google’s offices highlighted Liberis’s commitment to driving innovation and addressing the evolving needs of small businesses across the UK, US, and wider Western Hemisphere.

The event kicked off with a palpable sense of momentum, with Liberis revealing significant strides in the past 18 months: 126 major product releases, a doubling of partnerships to 50 global organizations, the launch of two new products, and expansion into eight new countries, bringing their total presence to 16. Most notably, Liberis has tripled the number of merchants served, now analyzing 2.2 million businesses monthly. This number, while impressive, was framed against the vast market of 5 million SMEs in the UK, 30 million in Europe, and 30 million in the US, underscoring the immense growth potential that AI and embedded finance aim to unlock.

A Fragmented Funding Experience

A core theme of the event was the recognition that the “one-size-fits-all” approach to SME funding is no longer viable. With a global small business funding gap of $5.7 trillion—a 27% increase from last year—the urgency for tailored solutions is clear. A Liberis survey of 850 merchants revealed that 32% anticipate price increases due to global economic shifts, while a typical SME uses five to eight funding products across its lifecycle. This fragmentation often leads to overwhelming choices, inefficient processes, and the constant need for businesses to rebuild credit profiles when switching providers.

AI at the Core of Personalized Funding

Lindsay Brightwell, Senior Product Manager at Liberis, introduced the Liberis Capital Platform, powered by AI, as the solution to these systemic challenges. This platform moves beyond static, historic data, focusing instead on a business’s future trajectory. Three core AI capabilities underpin this revolution:

1. Forecasting and Decisioning Models: These models assess where merchants are headed, not just where they’ve been. By ingesting thousands of data points, including off-platform information like website traffic, social media buzz, and hiring activity, Liberis can confidently predict growth.
2. AI Recommendation Engine: Leveraging real-time data, this engine surfaces offers perfectly matched to a merchant’s current stage and growth journey. Customer clustering groups similar businesses, allowing for insights into what funding approaches have historically succeeded.
3. Pricing Sensitivity Models: Ensuring offers are tailored, affordable, and fair, these models analyze previous funding and cash flow to optimize pricing for each unique business.

Real-world examples showcased the platform’s impact:

• Amina, a boutique plant shop owner, initially became “invisible” to lenders after switching POS providers. Liberis’s AI, by analyzing diverse data, identified her rapid growth, unlocking starter capital that dynamically increased with her transactions.
• Simone, an eBay trading card seller, faced traditional lenders deeming her seasonal sales pattern as risky. Liberis’s AI recognized the pattern, matching her with “Flex Capital,” providing pre-approved access to funds whenever needed without reapplying.
• Alex, a growing cafe chain owner, needed a lump sum for expansion. Liberis’s “Working Capital” product provided funds with repayments tied to future sales, allowing Alex to scale without stress, with pricing tailored by AI.

These AI-driven approaches have led to significant results for Liberis: a 70% increase in engagement since launching multiple products, a 27% increase from hyper-personalization alone, and funded merchants growing 25% faster than similar businesses without funding. Additionally, 76% of funded businesses return for additional rounds, demonstrating strong customer loyalty.

Funding at the Point of Need

Liberis also unveiled its second major growth bet: taking funding out of the traditional application journey and embedding it directly into the day-to-day context of business operations. Charlie Davies showcased “Pay with Liberis,” a new product designed to help merchants fund purchases with finance directly at checkout. This white-label solution allows partners to offer finance seamlessly, with payments tied to a percentage of future sales, providing flexibility that traditional “Buy Now, Pay Later” models, often built for consumers, lack. This approach is projected to increase checkout conversion by over 14% for higher-ticket items, drive demand at the top of the funnel, and foster long-term customer relationships.

Google Gemini and the Future of Underwriting

The event also provided a deep dive into the collaboration with Google, particularly the impact of Google Gemini. Liberis revealed “Ada,” an AI agent trained on Google Gemini and tens of thousands of Liberis deals, that has been live in production since May. Ada is transforming credit decisioning for complex cases (higher amounts or those with extensive documentation). While 80% of Liberis’s decisions were already automated by traditional AI, the remaining 20% often required underwriters to spend up to an hour (or even three) manually reviewing documents.

Ada streamlines this process, providing recommended decisions, reasoning, and risk/positive factors within minutes. Underwriters can interact with Ada via a chat function, ask questions, and even leverage Ada’s access to Google Search for real-time external information. Crucially, a self-reinforcing feedback loop ensures continuous improvement: underwriters provide feedback on Ada’s recommendations, and Ada learns from the performance of approved and declined deals over time. With 68% alignment between human and AI decisions (and even higher for approvals), Ada is on a path to becoming a world-leading underwriter for small businesses, dramatically reducing decision times and enhancing the merchant experience.

Dennis Casey, Google Cloud UK’s China Agri Market Lead, reinforced Google’s commitment to AI, highlighting their vertically integrated AI stack, from custom silicon chips (TPUs) to the state-of-the-art Gemini model developed by DeepMind. Casey emphasized Google’s open cloud ecosystem, allowing customers to choose foundational models and leverage Google’s grounding features to ensure accuracy and mitigate hallucination by connecting to Google Search and enterprise data. He also showcased Gemini’s capabilities in generating high-quality marketing images and videos, demonstrating the power of multi-agent systems.

The event underscored a clear vision: by combining advanced AI, real-time data analysis, and seamless embedded finance solutions, Liberis and Google are not just streamlining access to capital but fundamentally reshaping the growth trajectory for small businesses globally. The aim is clear – to dramatically expand the number of merchants served, enabling them to navigate an ever-changing economic landscape with confidence and agility.