The 3-Min Read: Fintechs want to become small businesses’ next employee

Within the span of a week, SoFi, Square, and Capital One each shared new developments and research for their small business clients. SoFi launched new loans, Square unveiled AI integrations, and Capital One published new research. The common thread across these announcements is competing to help small business owners save time by becoming a bigger part of their day-to-day operations.

Three companies, one focus area

SoFi’s new small business loans are designed around speed. Eligible businesses can 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.

Capital One’s latest research ties these ideas together, examining how small businesses are navigating 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.

Time is becoming the 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.

The next employee isn’t human

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.