Welcome to the Agentic Era: Goodbye Static Lending, Hello Smart Capital

When we talk about transforming small business finance, it’s not just about speed. It’s about relevance. The Liberis Capital Platform is built to deliver both, with intelligence at the core and scale in its sights.

This is the first of two major bets Liberis is making on the future of embedded finance. At its heart is a simple question:

What if funding could be tailored to where a business is headed, not just where it’s been?

Across the global SMB landscape, there’s a $5.7 trillion funding gap. Demand is rising fast, but access isn’t keeping up, especially for businesses with non-traditional growth patterns or seasonal cycles that don't fit rigid credit score models. Our data shows that 20% of SMBs are growing steadily, 12% exhibit strong seasonal patterns, and 38% are experiencing substantial change in performance. These dynamics underscore the inadequacy of static risk models in capturing the full picture.

Static underwriting isn’t just outdated; it’s fundamentally out of sync with how businesses behave. The traditional experience is full of dead ends: unclear eligibility, irrelevant offers, long application forms, and decisions based on yesterday’s data.

The Liberis Capital Platform flips this on its head.

Instead of treating every merchant the same, the platform adapts to each one. It uses thousands of real-time data signals to assess performance, understand trajectory, and offer the right product at the right moment — instantly.

Under the hood are three core AI capabilities working together:

• Forecasting & decisioning models that assess where the business is going, not just where it’s been.
• A recommendation engine that aligns offers with the merchant’s current growth stage.
• Pricing sensitivity models that tailor terms based on affordability, context, and merchant behaviour.

It’s not just smarter, it’s dynamic. Every funding experience becomes personal, responsive, and fair.

Let’s talk about three very real, very different merchants:

• Amina, who runs a boutique plant shop. When she switched point-of-sale providers, she became invisible to most lenders. But the Liberis Capital Platform pulled in off-platform signals, from website traffic to hiring patterns, and unlocked a starter offer. As her business grew, her funding adapted with it.
• Simone, who sells trading cards on eBay. Her sales spike in December and dip in February. Most models would flag her as risky. Liberis sees a pattern and offers her Flex Capital, a pre-approved line she can draw from anytime, no reapplication needed.
• Alex, who’s scaling his café chain and needs a lump sum to open new locations. He receives a working capital offer tied to future sales. Payments flex as revenue flows in. No stress. No overextension.

In every case, the system learns. More data means sharper insights. Better predictions. Smarter pricing. And a funding experience that evolves as the business does.

This isn’t just a win for small businesses. It’s a game-changer for platforms embedding Liberis into their journeys:

• Broader reach: Serve more of your merchants with funding that suits them.
• Stronger engagement: Real-time, personalised offers convert better and build trust.
• Higher customer lifetime value: Funded merchants stay longer and grow faster. In fact, they’re 25% more likely to grow and 76% more likely to return for additional rounds.

This is what modern capital should look like: intuitive, invisible, and completely centred around the merchant.

We explore the second big bet — contextual finance — and how Liberis is embedding funding directly into purchase journeys with the launch of “Pay with Liberis.”