Merging operational and financial data will offer insights into smaller businesses and guide an effort to extend capital to them, the companies said.

FedEx established its data analytics unit in 2020, a company spokesperson said Tuesday in an email. The unit uses artificial intelligence to analyze companies’ logistics and supply chain operations.

The companies contended that “securing capital remains a persistent hurdle for logistics-heavy” small and medium-sized businesses.

That’s because traditional lending models depend on credit scores and banking data, “often overlooking operational indicators such as shipment activity, inventory movement and fulfillment performance,” the release said.

Stripe aims to use the partnership “to help inform financing analysis” by leveraging “supply chain intelligence” and “real-time operational signals” from these smaller companies gained from FedEx data, according to the release.

“Stripe will be better positioned to evaluate, approve, and deploy tailored funding more quickly than traditional lending processes, eliminating the friction for SMBs,” the release said. Stripe makes business loans through two partner banks.

The FedEx effort follows Stripe’s purchase last week of embedded financing company Parafin, which also arranges loans for small businesses. Stripe plans to use the San Francisco-based startup to expand its lending for smaller firms. In the Sept. 30 news release about the Parafin acquisition, Stripe argued that small businesses are finding it difficult to access capital, citing a decreasing percentage of approved loans last year compared to 2015.

FedEx and Stripe described the announcement as the start of “a strategic, long-term collaboration” that aims to scale their logistics and financial data into services by early next year.

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