Small Business

Mastercard has introduced an agentic AI offering designed to help small businesses. The company’s Virtual C-Suite, announced Tuesday (March 10), is a collection of artificial intelligence (AI) agents that serve as a “digital executive” ...

Small business-focused platform Affiniti launched a financing agreement with Column bank, according to a Monday (March 9) press release. The agreement will see Column provide financing to boost the growth of ...

Small businesses may still like the local, relationship-first feel of credit unions, but that loyalty now comes with a digital price tag. The new PYMNTS Intelligence and Velera report, “Credit Union ...

Cash retains a stubborn presence in small- and mid-sized businesses, but business credit cards are beginning to erode that dominance by addressing the operational pressures that keep firms tied to ...

People tend to gravitate toward what’s easy and familiar. Businesses typically do the same. This reality creates an uncomfortable truth for small- to medium-sized business (SMB): if it’s even slightly inconvenient ...

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) ended 2025 sharpening their demand and reliance on platform-based working capital. Earnings disclosures indicate that those balances grew meaningfully year over year across major commerce ...

Small businesses are treating credit cards less like a backup and more like a flexible operating tool, and the way they use them is starting to look surprisingly consumer-like. That is ...

Watch more: What’s Next In Payments With Mastercard’s Mark Barnett Strategic narratives in payments can come with some loaded words. Artificial intelligence, institutional blockchain and real-time rails are routinely positioned as the ...

Small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) are approaching a practical turning point in how they pay. Cash and checks still play an outsized role in day-to-day operations, especially for supplier and ...

Small businesses are not just borrowing to survive. They are using credit cards as operating systems, and they are willing to pay for features that make day-to-day cash flow easier ...

Cross-border payment FinTech Payoneer applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to open a digital bank, according to a Tuesday (Feb. 24) press release. PAYO Digital Bank, N.A., ...

Blockchain and decentralized finance company Wellspring has introduced a treasury management solution for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Wellspring Institutional is designed to offer finance teams centralized cash visibility, integrated domestic ...

Global business platform Square continues to expand its partner ecosystem and now has almost 1,000 partners in its Square App Marketplace and its Square Specialists directory, the company said in ...

Merchant surcharges are in the news as retailers, large and small, look for extra revenue and consumers rail against their existence. “Over the past few months, it feels like almost every ...

Embedded finance platform Jaris expanded its partnership with payments firm Paysafe, according to a Thursday (Feb. 19) press release. The collaboration makes Jaris’ instant payouts solution available to the tens of ...

Payments platform Paysafe expanded its program that provides training and support to independent sellers who want to build a career in payments. The company’s U.S. Agent Recruitment Program is now accepting ...

Wayflyer secured a $250 million, two-year credit facility to support the continued growth of its working capital solution for small businesses that are often underserved by traditional banks. The company secured ...

Latin America’s digital habits are no longer confined to retail shopping or person-to-person transfers. They are directly influencing how smaller firms  invoice, get paid, stock shelves and bridge payroll gaps. PYMNTS ...

Broader adoption of artificial intelligence by small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) could boost Canada’s productivity, Bank of Canada Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers said Thursday (Feb. 12), according to a ...

Truist launched its inaugural open banking integration, connecting first to Mastercard’s open finance technology, according to a Thursday (Feb. 12) press release. The platform is designed to give consumers and small ...

A growing share of retail small businesses are not planning for the next downturn so much as financing their way through the next week, and PYMNTS Intelligence data showed just ...

For many small businesses, cash flow is no longer a background concern. It is the defining constraint shaping daily operations and long-term viability. Delayed receivables are becoming more common and ...

Mastercard and eCommerce enabler Bosta are partnering to support small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in Egypt by introducing a dedicated discount program for Mastercard Business cardholders. The program will provide these ...

Square has brought its conversational artificial intelligence (AI) assistant to the U.K. Square AI, which is embedded into the Square platform, is designed to help businesses make clever and faster decisions using ...

Businesses and their accountants continued to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) agents and other digital tools in the quarter ended Dec. 31, BILL executives said Thursday (Feb. 5) during the company’s ...

American Express (AmEx) has debuted its Flexible Payment Option (FPO) for small businesses. The new offering, announced in a Thursday (Feb. 5) news release emailed to PYMNTS, is aimed at giving businesses ...

Visa has launched a new platform designed to help small business owners access capital, reach customers and adopt modern business tools. The Visa & Main platform will continue adding resources, programming ...

Revolut Business has launched a merchant acquiring product in Australia. The product integrates account-to-account, online and in-person payments within a core business account, enabling businesses to manage their entire payments operation from ...

Software as a service once promised a steady rhythm of recurring subscriptions, predictable upgrades and incremental productivity gains. That rhythm has been thrown off kilter as artificial intelligence begins to alter ...

Loop AI raised $14 million in a Series A funding round to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) platform for restaurant and retail back offices. The company will use the new funding ...

QuickBooks will soon enable small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the United States to offer their customers flexible payment options from Affirm. The capability will result from a new multiyear partnership ...

U.S. Bank has introduced a Visa-backed credit card designed for small business owners. The U.S. Bank Business Shield Visa Card, announced Monday (Feb. 2) in a news release provided to PYMNTS. ...

Credibly has announced a new patent to help it underwrite loans for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), according to a Wednesday (Jan. 28) press release. The artificial intelligence (AI)-powered FinTech working ...

Small businesses may say they value relationships, but when basic digital tasks still require a phone call or branch visit, loyalty starts to look temporary. That was the core message of ...

Demand for credit is rising across both companies and households, but Enova’s latest results show smaller businesses notching significant demand amid an optimistic outlook. During the fourth quarter, as detailed Tuesday ...

Small businesses are sending lenders the message that credit is broadly within reach, so the real fight is over flexibility and control. That was the central theme of the PYMNTS Intelligence ...

The so-called “modern” paper check has been around for centuries. Before the United States ever gained its independence, the Bank of England in 1717 was using pre-printed forms. Fast forward over ...

Despite concerns about taxes and supply chains, American small business owners are optimistic about 2026. That’s according to the latest monthly findings from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), released Tuesday (Jan. 13) and ...

When small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) fail, the postmortem can often fixate on a single cause. With corporate bankruptcies, including those for SMBs, hitting a 15-year high during 2025 according to ...

Artificial intelligence-powered tools and commerce platforms are expanding the reach of small retailers, pulling niche, mission-driven products into the mainstream without requiring massive headcount or capital. That shift is playing out ...

How money moves determines the shape of most B2B relationships. Traditionally, suppliers have had to deal with the short end of the stick in the buyer-supplier dynamic, with larger buyers often ...

Experian made its commercial data information available through its Ascend platform. The move offers “in-depth, granular information on the borrowing and repayment history” of more than 8 million businesses in the ...

Small- to medium-sized businesses are preparing for another year shaped by economic pressure, uneven consumer demand and tighter margins, forcing a more disciplined approach to how they operate and grow. Jonathan ...

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan is forecasting an easing of tariff-related tensions next year. Moynihad said during an interview Sunday (Dec. 28) with CBS News that he thinks the President ...

British bank Lloyds is reportedly ending its small-business-focused invoice financing program. The factoring program will close by the year’s end, the Financial Times (FT) reported Sunday (Dec. 28), citing two sources ...