Embedded finance: Unlocking future growth for B2B companies

Introduction: The untapped potential of embedded finance 

In today’s competitive market, B2B companies have a unique opportunity to take the lead in capturing a share of the rapidly growing embedded finance sector. Although many companies have yet to embrace embedded finance solutions, early movers like Shopify and Uber are already reaping the benefits – Shopify alone makes 74% of its revenue by integrating financial services such as payments, lending and banking into its B2B offerings. 

What is embedded finance? 

Embedded finance is all about making it easier for the customer, providing end-to-end services in one place. For instance, a retailer may offer Klarna’s ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ feature into their app or platform, enabling a customer to complete the purchase when they need it and spread the payment into manageable installments over time. In the B2B space, companies can integrate financial services – such as payments, lending and insurance – directly into their own platforms. Rather than redirecting customers or partners to external financial institutions, companies can offer these services natively within their own ecosystems to create a seamless B2B experience. 

Top five benefits that create an engine for growth 

B2B companies have an opportunity to redefine customer experiences and capture significant business value through embedded finance. When customers can meet more of their needs through a single service or platform, their satisfaction and retention are likely to grow, ultimately driving higher revenue. Key benefits include: 

1. Revenue multiplier: Embedded finance unlocks new, high-margin revenue streams by enabling businesses to offer products such as payments, lending, insurance or banking services directly within their platform. Shopify’s merchant solutions, such as Shopify Payments, a fully integrated payment processing service – enable merchants to seamlessly accept and process payments, while allowing Shopify to generate revenue through payment processing and currency conversion fees. 
2. Improved customer experience: Embedded finance improves the customer journey by seamlessly integrating financial services into existing workflows, removing the need for external providers. Xero, for example, allows SMBs (small to medium-sized businesses) to accept invoice payments instantly through integrations with Stripe and GoCardless. By offering an all-in-one financial hub, Xero becomes a core part of daily operations, boosting convenience and customer loyalty. 
3. Competitive differentiation: Offering financial products allows businesses to strengthen their core offerings to help them stand out in an increasingly competitive market.  
4. Operational streamlining: Embedded finance empowers companies to harness user data to offer tailored financial products, improving both user experience and financial access. For example, Uber analyses driver and rider data – such as trip frequency, earnings patterns and behavioral trends – to deliver personalized financial solutions through its Uber Wallet service.  

Is your business a sleeping embedded finance giant?   

If your business meets just one of these criteria, it’s time to explore the transformative potential of embedded finance: 

1. Large customer base: With a large B2B customer base, each client becomes a potential user of embedded financial services. Frequent interactions create scalable opportunities to embed financial services into everyday workflows, ensuring adoption and stickiness.  
2. Marketplaces: B2B marketplaces bring together a large, engaged network of businesses transacting regularly, catering to both buyers and sellers. Embedded financial products can simplify the end-to-end experience of completing a transaction by providing everything in one place, removing the need to redirect to a third-party provider for payment. The marketplace becomes more than a matchmaker – it becomes an end-to-end workflow tool. 
3. High B2B customer engagement: Frequent interactions create opportunities to embed financial services into everyday workflows, increasing the likelihood for adoption, cross-sell and stickiness of B2B customers. 
4. Rich B2B customer data: Embedded finance often relies on granular customer data to personalize offerings (e.g. lending decisions, credit risk etc.) and improve business outcomes. Shopify, for example, uses sales data to offer merchant loans through Shopify Capital. 

How to get started, and how Elixirr can help 

Launching an embedded finance solution is not just another project – it must be a strategic priority. Success requires starting on the right footing: aligning priorities, dedicating sufficient resources and fostering a culture that empowers innovation and embraces change.  

Elixirr specializes in kickstarting client journeys through workshops designed to deliver actionable insights into the embedded finance landscape. These workshops reveal tailored strategic opportunities, ensuring alignment with market demands.  

Understanding your customers and competitors is key to unlocking where embedded finance creates the most impact.  We use cutting-edge analytics to surface powerful insights and high-growth opportunities like SMB lending and e-commerce payments – turning data into action and vision into value. 

With your strategy locked in, it’s time to bring your embedded finance MVP to life. Elixirr drives end-to-end execution – shaping bold ideas into real products and launching them fast. From concept to code, we help you build solutions that are laser-focused on customer needs. We also guide you through selecting the right embedded finance provider, ensuring your stack delivers the performance, scalability and value to win in the market. 

Conclusion 

Embedded finance is a game-changing opportunity for B2B companies.  You don’t need to be a ‘big tech’ giant to integrate financial services into your platforms to drive growth. Businesses with large customer bases, high engagement, rich data, or marketplace models are best positioned to leverage embedded finance for transformative impact. The market is moving – are you ready to lead the charge?