The next credit score could come from the warehouse. FedEx and Stripe aim to turn shipping, inventory and fulfillment data into lending signals, helping businesses access capital before sales become cash.

Control of operational data is becoming control of credit. As logistics and payments platforms gain underwriting advantages, traditional banks risk losing ground to companies that see business activity in real time.

Smarter underwriting creates new risks for borrowers. Real-time financing could expand credit access, but also make borrowing more sensitive to operational disruptions, platform dependence and changing business conditions.

A small business can have a warehouse full of merchandise, a growing order book and packages moving toward customers, and still struggle to qualify for financing.

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The problem isn’t that the business lacks money-making potential. It’s that traditional underwriting can struggle to distinguish between the activity of a small and medium-sized business (SMB) experiencing a temporary cash crunch from one headed toward financial trouble.

Now, a growing class of lenders and technology platforms is betting the answer may be hiding in the shipping label. FedEx and Stripe, for example, last week announced the launch of a 2027 solution designed to use operational intelligence from FedEx Dataworks to inform underwriting through Stripe Capital.

The combination of underwriting and operational data is only becoming more attractive as logistics, commerce and payments data themselves become more connected in real time. As a result, the information generated by a company’s everyday operations could begin to determine how much credit that business deserves.

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