Relay Taps Fundbox so SMBs Can Unlock Access to Capital

Small businesses don't need another app to manage. They need the tools they already trust to work harder for them. That's the philosophy behind Fundbox's embedded capital platform, and it's exactly why Relay chose to build on it.

The State of the SMB Economy

Cash flow remains one of the most persistent challenges facing small business owners. Whether it's covering payroll during a slow month, stocking inventory ahead of a busy season, or bridging the gap between invoice and payment, the need for fast, flexible capital is constant. And the friction involved in accessing it has historically been anything but simple.

A survey of 1,000 U.S.-based small business owners found that 94% plan to grow, citing marketing, new market expansion, product launches, and hiring as key drivers. Yet 1 in 3 of those same owners said unexpected cash flow disruptions could threaten their plans entirely. ¹

The Federal Reserve's Small Business Credit Survey reinforces the point. According to their 2026 Report on Employer Firms, roughly one-third of small businesses that applied for financing still faced a funding gap, and the most common reasons they sought capital in the first place were simply to cover operating expenses or pursue a growth opportunity. The demand is real. The access isn't keeping up.

Traditional lending processes take time businesses don't have. And even digital-first banking platforms have historically left a critical gap: when a business owner needed capital, they had to leave their platform, start over somewhere else, and hope for the best.² That friction has a cost, for business owners and for the platforms that serve them.

A Partnership With a Shared Vision

Relay is the small business banking and money management platform bringing cash flow clarity to self-made entrepreneurs.² When they decided capital was the next chapter for their product, they needed an infrastructure partner, not just a lender.

We knew that improving access to capital was the step change needed to enable real growth opportunities for our small business customers," said Aric Pasquill, Director of Product at Relay. "Fundbox's vast knowledge and expertise allowed us to stand up an end-to-end capital product quickly and confidently, giving our users the capital they need.

Fundbox's platform is built for exactly this³: giving partners the APIs, decisioning infrastructure, and embedded experience layer to launch a fully native credit product, without building from scratch.

Built in Under Eight Weeks

Using Fundbox's APIs, the Relay team constructed a fully native, white-labeled lending experience inside their banking platform.² The result is Relay Capital, launching first with Relay Term Loans. No iframes. No pop-ups. No redirects. A clean, frictionless customer journey from within the Relay dashboard business owners already use every day. From kickoff to launch: less than eight weeks.

Because Relay customers already have account activity on the platform, Fundbox's decisioning infrastructure surfaces pre-approved offers natively, so business owners can access capital without ever leaving the experience they trust.

"From our first call, Relay had a clear vision for capital inside their platform", said Ben Walker, Director of Product at Fundbox. "Together we've made access to funding almost effortless, embedding pre-approved offers directly into the banking experience".

Real Impact for Real Businesses

The most important measure of any capital product isn't the technology,  it's what it means for the business owner on the other side.

For Drew Hankins, owner of real estate company LS Funding Group, Relay Term Loans arrived at a critical moment—delivering fast, seamless funding exactly when it was needed most. For Penny Breslin, owner of MoneyPenny LLC, an accounting firm that grew its staff by 40% in a single year, Relay Term Loans helped consolidate high-interest credit card debt and hire to meet surging demand.

That seamlessness is what embedded capital is supposed to deliver. And it starts with the right infrastructure.

Relay Capital, An Emerging Suite of Lending Products

This partnership is a strong signal of where embedded finance is heading. Businesses increasingly expect their financial tools to work together, not in silos. When capital lives inside the platforms businesses trust, it stops being an obstacle and starts being an enabler.

Relay Term Loans is just the beginning. Relay Capital is an emerging suite of lending products with more offerings on the way, and both companies are already exploring ways to deepen the integration further. That's how the best embedded finance partnerships work: they don't end at launch. They compound.

Since 2013, Fundbox has helped over 170,000 small businesses unlock more than $6 billion in working capital. Partnerships like this one are how we continue to scale that impact, by empowering the platforms small businesses already rely on to offer the financial tools they need to grow.

Building for the small business economy? If capital belongs in your product roadmap, let's talk about what Fundbox can power for you →

Learn more about Relay at relayfi.com