ForwardAI Debuts API For SMB Lending

ForwardAI, which works in lender-first FinTech services, has rolled out ForwardAI Precise, an application programming interface (API) delivering a suite of cash flow, accounting and financial data for small- to medium-sized business (SMB) lending, according to a press release.

The company gives real-time access to over 160 points of historical and forward-looking data insights, which are based on existing accounting and financial data and allow lenders to more easily assess future financial sustainability, the release stated.

ForwardAI Precise will automate cash flow lending, allowing for access to real-time, short-term and long-term cash flow forecasting supported by data, according to the release. Every SMB will be given a financial health score gleaned from the program’s proprietary algorithm, allowing lenders to determine creditworthiness beyond the personal credit score of a given business owner.

ForwardAI Precise gives up to three years’ worth of historical data and a year of forward-looking data, the release stated, with cross-data validation of accounting transactions with banking data in order to make sure everything is accurate and that risks usually associated with SMB lending are cut down.

The release called the API “simple to use” and stated it will be able to be integrated with existing lender systems within 24 hours. The program will provide constant access to most global SMB and accounting platforms, along with customization options.

ForwardAI Co-Founder and CEO Nick Chandi said in the release that the idea behind the program is to ease friction for SMBs.

“By streamlining access to accurate, normalized data in real time, ForwardAI Precise is ultimately fast-tracking growth throughout the SMB market at an incredibly critical time — the faster that businesses can get loans, the faster they can succeed,” he said in the release.

The API comes as SMBs find themselves facing echoes of the 2008 financial crisis amid the pandemic as large, traditional financial institutions are more reluctant to fund them. But PYMNTS reported that embracing digitization could lead to faster access to funding.