How GoCardless And Pipe Want To Change Lending To UK SMEs

Pipe brings embedded working capital solutions to UK small businesses though their first UK partner, GoCardless. 

Pipe launching embedded capital in the UK with GoCardless

Pipe is launching embedded Capital in the UK, with launch partner GoCardless. Pipe Capital makes it fast, and simple for software companies to launch an embedded capital product and give their SMB customers seamless access to working capital directly inside their platform. 

How GoCardless and Pipe want to change lending to UK SMEs

housecall-pro

Traditionally, businesses like the ones served by Housecall Pro have struggled to access the financing needed to grow their businesses—running into long application processes, credit checks, and excessive paperwork.  Because Housecall Pro aims to be the only software that their customers, or “Pros,” need to succeed in every facet of their business, they began looking for a solution that would expand the availability of business financing to more of their Pros. Their diverse customer base meant that they required a partner with broad geographic reach that could seamlessly integrate financing options into their existing platform.

The team selected Pipe after a comprehensive review of the major players in the embedded finance space. Pipe stood out not only due to its user-friendly interface, but also for its ability to launch rapidly and scale up quickly. The prebuilt dashboards were also a key differentiator, enabling Housecall Pro to monitor performance and make informed decisions without having to build custom reports from scratch. 

During the pre-pilot stage, Pipe demonstrated a strong ability to pre-qualify Housecall Pro’s customer base—underwriting Pros across multiple industries, exhibiting differing revenue patterns, and possessing a variety of capital needs. Moreover, the Pro community also showed tremendous interest in the offering, indicating that a partnership with Pipe could drive significant business impact. 

“Pipe’s strong leadership and track record of success gave us the confidence in their ability to develop solutions tailored to the unique needs of our industry,” said Valentina Durand, Vice President of Fintech at Housecall Pro.

Once the decision was made to move forward with Pipe, development was complete within just a few weeks. “The collaborative partnership—including real-time support through shared communication channels—enabled a fast go-to-market launch and smooth implementation,” said Durand. 

The partnership with Pipe has delivered significant business benefits for both Housecall Pro and its customers. Now, they’re able to give more Pros access to financing that previously may have been out of reach—cutting down on the time and complexity of traditional financing. This, in turn, enables Pros to invest in growth and resources they wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. 

By offering a simple, fast, and accessible financing option within the existing platform that its Pros use and love, the company is driving increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. “Our mission is to champion our Pros to success, and Pipe allows us to do just that. With just a few clicks, our Pros can secure the funds they need to invest in their business, whether it’s for marketing, new equipment, or covering payroll during slower seasons. This gives them confidence and peace of mind, knowing they can keep their business moving forward,” said Durand. 

Embedded capital solves the biggest problems SMBs face in almost any industry; access to working capital. Ready to unlock growth for your customers, while also growing your GPV and increasing user loyalty? Schedule a demo with us today.

Traditionally, businesses like the ones served by Housecall Pro have struggled to access the financing needed to grow their businesses—running into long application processes, credit checks, and excessive paperwork. 

Housecall Pro unlocks small business growth with embedded financing

As part of their mission to simplify how businesses handle their finances, they aim to give businesses access to capital when and where they need it—offering payables, merchant services, and banking and treasury solutions in a single unified platform.

The SMBs that Priority serves have become increasingly vulnerable, as rising interest rates have impacted their cash flow. As traditional banking channels have become less accessible, many have been left with no choice but to take on alternative financing with higher rates, or leverage consumer products like personal credit cards to fund their businesses. Industries like construction and healthcare, in particular, face difficulties with cash flow management due to their complex payment processes and delayed receivables. 

Always a step ahead of evolving market demands, Priority saw the need to offer customizable, flexible embedded finance solutions to better meet their merchants’ needs. While their previous solution offered merchant cash advances, it wasn’t an embedded solution and less favorable terms. Priority sought a new capital partner that was more merchant friendly and could help their SMB customers grow sustainably. 

Investing thoughtfully in the right technology to modernize and enhance the commerce experience was critical to the team. “We selected the Pipe’s Embedded UI solution because it enabled a seamless user experience and integrated with our existing products. By unlocking cash flow through Pipe, we saw the potential to improve SMB operations, reduce costs, and accelerate growth all at once,” said Anthony Bonventre, Priority’s Chief Credit Officer. 

To make quick, flexible capital access a reality, they launched Priority Capital, powered by Pipe. After a successful pilot test, Priority implemented a full embedded UI integration within weeks to power Priority Capital inside their payments ecosystem. This integration offers Priority businesses a straightforward, user-friendly path to obtaining the capital they need to grow, without the hassle of credit checks, high rates, personal guarantees, or opaque terms.

“Pipe’s dedicated GTM support team was first class in its proactive approach, providing tailored strategies that perfectly aligned with our product's needs,” said John Grebe, VP, Product Strategy at Priority. “Our collaboration on deep market insights and hands-on guidance significantly streamlined the go-to-market process, making the product launch smoother and more effective.”

With Pipe’s streamlined process, merchants are preapproved based on their Priority transaction data, enabling them to request and receive funding through the MX™ Merchant dashboard with just a few clicks. Using email, direct mail, and outbound calling to promote the offering, Priority has seen a significant increase in merchant adoption rate. In the first two months of the partnership, over 85% of their customers who signed up went on to accept a capital offer.

With a shared mission to help SMBs accelerate their growth, Pipe and Priority were natural partners from the start. “From the beginning to the end, Pipe has been working with us hand in hand to overcome any obstacles and make this a success,” said Bonventre.

Priority is the payments and banking fintech that streamlines collecting, storing, lending, and sending money to help businesses unlock revenue opportunities.

Priority delivers streamlined capital access to merchants with Pipe

Priority

gocardless

Small and medium enterprises based in the UK have a range of capital finance needs, from growing their business to covering cash flow gaps caused by late payments. A staggering 52% of them experience late payments—so it’s unsurprising that 1 in 6 are looking for financing. 

The small businesses that GoCardless serves often face significant challenges in accessing the working capital they need to keep their businesses humming—whether that’s paying their employees, acquiring new equipment, or opening up a new location. In particular, micro-businesses and minority-owned businesses often lack the credit history or scores required by traditional lenders. GoCardless sought an embedded capital product that would enable their customers to access capital without personal guarantees or credit checks, while offering a seamless user experience.

GoCardless selected Pipe for its impressive merchant pre-approval rates and its ability to offer capital without personal guarantees. Pipe stood out not only for its fast, easy-to-access financing, but also for the streamlined user experience, which enabled higher conversion rates. After Pipe was selected, GoCardless was able to launch a pilot program with their Pipe-hosted solution in under six weeks. This allowed small and medium business owners to apply for capital from the same platform they were already accustomed to for collecting their payments.

“When assessing a partner integration, we look for a flexible, easily customizable solution, as well as strong support from the team to ensure a seamless process. Pipe checked all the boxes—the code was easy to implement, with clear documentation,” said Will Slater, Director of Growth at GoCardless. “We only needed to embed a few snippets of code, and we were up and running with a capital product. Their expert team supported us every step of the way.”

Given the success of the pilot from the Pipe-hosted experience, GoCardless is transitioning to the embedded UI for a more seamless customer experience.

GoCardless intends to embed Pipe’s capital solutions directly into its own platform, providing seamless capital access for its UK customer base.

Early results exceeded expectations with almost £7m in capital being advanced to GoCardless customers in just three months. Pipe saw attach rates twice as high as benchmark figures. Customers loved how clear and transparent the offering was and how payment aligns with the ebbs and flows of their business. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with an outstanding NPS score of 88. As a result of the strength of the current partnership, GoCardless plans to expand the Pipe offering to other markets.

Bringing working capital to GoCardless merchants

See why GoCardless chose to partner with Pipe to deliver embedded working capital access to their UK-based SMB customers. 

GoCardless reshapes funding access for UK small businesses

boulevard

Co-founders Matthew Danna and Sean Stavropoulos started Boulevard as an appointment scheduling tool for salons, and it’s grown into a complete client experience platform. Fueled by a deep understanding of the day-to-day needs of barbershop, salon, and medspa owners, they identified one of the biggest gaps in the industry: access to working capital. 

“For years, the self-care industry has been underserved by lenders who understand little to nothing about how these unique businesses work. Traditional small business loans have only been accessible to business owners who don't actually need them. It’s also no secret that the women- and minority-owned businesses that make up a significant portion of the self-care industry have long struggled to access the loans and lines of credit on which small businesses depend, ” said Matt Danna, co-founder and CEO of Boulevard.

To help close this capital gap, they launched Boulevard Capital, powered by Pipe. Boulevard Capital lets self-care business owners access the capital they deserve based on what they’ve built. This new style of working capital has been a hit for Boulevard, with over 10% signing up, nearly half of sign-ups requesting capital, and millions advanced in just the first week. Thanks to the seamless process, nearly every Boulevard Capital user who responded to the NPS survey gave a perfect 10. 

For Boulevard users, accessing capital has never been simpler. Pipe’s streamlined process allows them to get pre-approved based on their Boulevard transaction data, so they can access the capital they need without credit checks or lengthy financial histories. This approach not only democratizes access to capital but also aligns payment with the merchant's sales cycles, so they’re never stuck with a high fixed payment during a slow period.

By partnering with Pipe, Boulevard gives the self-care industry:

Expanding Opportunities: Launch Capital in Your Industry

Boulevard is a great example of how vertically focused Payfacs and ISVs can bring capital access to industries that need it most. Pipe’s mission is to expand access to unbiased capital for SMBs. No one knows SMBs better than the vendors that serve them, and there’s no better place for them to access capital than the platforms they use to run their businesses every day. Pipe’s infrastructure is designed to embed seamlessly, offering capital access to your merchants with just a few clicks, all while feeling native to your platform.

Boulevard is a scheduling, management, marketing, and payment platform serving over 3000 self-care businesses.

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