Small and medium-sized companies (SMBs) face massive challenges in relation to world funds. Alternatives to succeed in new markets throughout borders and abroad have by no means been larger. However not like their bigger rivals, SMBs are sometimes stymied by each the complexity of worldwide funds and the dangers of coping with new companions.
We caught up with Saujin Yi, Founder and CEO of LiquidTrust, a Los Angeles, California-based agency that provides a expertise that reduces the chance and equalizes the facility in enterprise relationships to allow companies of any dimension to accomplice, collaborate, and scale with flexibility, ease, and confidence. Earlier this 12 months at FinovateSpring in San Diego, Yi and her co-presenter, Head of Enterprise Improvement Sean Popock, demonstrated how LiquidTrust’s newest resolution allows companies to carry funds in third-party micro escrow accounts to protect towards delays and defaults, in addition to fraud.
Along with LiquidTrust’s look at FinovateSpring in San Diego, the corporate additionally not too long ago introduced securing $4 million in seed funding. The spherical featured investments from Anthemis Feminine Innovators Lab Fund, Resolute Ventures, and Encourage Ventures, together with “strategic help” from BMO and JP Morgan. The capital infusion got here on the similar time that LiquidTrust introduced the launch of Micro Escrow, its on the spot escrow fee resolution for SMBs.
In our dialog, we talk about the present state of small enterprise funds and the challenges SMBs face when conducting funds throughout borders. We find out about LiquidTrust’s options that present quick, verified world funds for these corporations and, importantly, the potential influence of the Trump administration’s tariff coverage on SMBs in relation to worldwide funds.
Inform us about your self and the corporate you based. What downside does LiquidTrust remedy and who does it remedy it for?
Saujin Yi: I’m the founder and CEO of LiquidTrust. Earlier than that, I spent over a decade working on the intersection of small and medium-sized companies, fintech, and world funds. What we noticed many times, particularly when working with these SMBs, is that belief stays an enormous barrier to progress. Companies wish to work with new companions, particularly throughout borders, however hesitate as a result of they’re afraid they received’t receives a commission or that what they’ve paid for received’t arrive.
This can be a actual situation. SMBs within the US supply items and providers from a mean of 9 totally different nations (1). And whereas many look to their financial institution or credit score union for help, 75% of SMBs say they’re dissatisfied with present cross-border fee choices. Greater than 1 / 4 say they’re straight held again from world enlargement due to the complexity and dangers tied to present programs (2).
LiquidTrust exists to resolve that. We accomplice with monetary establishments and marketplaces to supply trendy B2B fee options that make sending and receiving funds—particularly throughout borders—safer and easier for small and mid-sized companies. Our flagship product, Protected Pay, is powered by our patent-pending Micro Escrow™ expertise, which brings the form of transaction safety that was as soon as solely out there to massive enterprises to the broader enterprise world. Sadly, greater than half of SMBs nonetheless imagine that cross-border fee programs aren’t constructed for companies of their dimension. We’re right here to vary that.
LiquidTrust affords two main world fee strategies. Are you able to define these strategies and clarify the use instances for every?
Yi: Immediately, we accomplice with banks, credit score unions, and B2B platforms to supply their SMB clients and members two methods to pay by one trusted platform: Easy Pay, for quick, verified world funds with no problem, and Protected Pay, for escrow-style safety on higher-stakes transactions.
Easy Pay is good for repeat relationships the place there’s already a baseline of belief, however each side nonetheless need safeguards like fee validation or supply affirmation. That is generally utilized in ongoing vendor partnerships.
Protected Pay is for first-time, high-value, or higher-risk transactions the place items or providers are being exchanged. This selection makes use of our proprietary Micro Escrow expertise to carry funds and launch them solely as soon as particular milestones or circumstances are met. It’s particularly helpful in cross-border offers, customized orders, or any state of affairs that includes prepayment and supply threat.
We’ve heard from monetary establishments, marketplaces, and small enterprise house owners that this type of flexibility—belief with out pointless friction—is strictly what’s been lacking. In actual fact, the worry of fraud is the primary cause over 1 / 4 of SMBs say they’ve prevented attempting to make or obtain on-line cross-border funds altogether (3).
Are you able to inform us a couple of favourite implementation, deployment, or function of your expertise?
Yi: Considered one of my favorites is a current implementation with a logistics platform that serves SMB exporters and importers. Earlier than LiquidTrust, lots of their clients had been wiring cash upfront to abroad suppliers with no recourse if one thing went unsuitable. It was irritating and expensive.
By integrating and providing our Protected Pay with Micro Escrow™ embedded, consumers now launch funds solely as soon as paperwork are uploaded and verified. Sellers ship with confidence as a result of they know the funds are safe. What I admire most is how seamless the expertise is. The expertise is totally embedded into the platform’s present workflow, and the customers don’t want to consider “escrow” as a separate course of. It simply works.
You lately wrote concerning the challenges that the proposed tariffs from the Trump Administration would possibly symbolize for small enterprise funds. What are these challenges and the way are fintechs serving to SMEs overcome them?
Yi: Tariff uncertainty creates chaos in two methods.
First, there’s fee timing. We’ve seen companies rush to ship full funds forward of a tariff deadline, solely to have items delayed or renegotiated mid-shipment. One enterprise proprietor put it bluntly: “Our cash is caught in limbo, and we will’t do something about it.” Second, there’s the influence on provide chain diversification. Discovering, vetting, and trusting one provider in a rustic the place you don’t know the language or native enterprise tradition is tough sufficient. When tariffs abruptly pressure SMBs to shift sourcing to a completely new nation, it’s greater than only a logistics downside—it may be the distinction between staying in enterprise and never. And who’s to say they’ll be fortunate sufficient to seek out one other reliable accomplice?
That is the place fintechs may help. We are able to construct fee programs that match the real-world flexibility SMBs want—issues like conditional launch, milestone-based funds, and built-in dispute safety. When insurance policies shift quick and unpredictably, companies want instruments that assist them keep agile with out placing their money in danger.
Your organization has a compelling origin story. What in your background gave you the boldness to deal with the problem of small enterprise world funds?
Yi: Our workforce was already working carefully with SMB house owners, and throughout the 2022 downturn, we saved listening to the identical factor: funds had been falling by. Some weren’t getting paid on time—or in any respect. Others had been paying suppliers however by no means receiving what they ordered, with no actual approach to get better their losses. It grew to become clear in a short time that the present fee protections simply weren’t constructed for them.
I’m a problem-solver at coronary heart. My background is in engineering and finance, and what drives me isn’t constructing one thing flashy; it’s constructing one thing really helpful. I really like simplifying complicated programs, like escrow, and making them accessible. That, together with our expertise within the area, gave me the boldness to construct an answer that works for the individuals who want it most.
LiquidTrust not too long ago secured $4 million in seed funding. What did this funding imply and what’s going to it allow the corporate to do?
Yi: This funding permits us to scale thoughtfully. We’re utilizing it to construct extra partnerships with monetary establishments and B2B platforms, speed up onboarding, and strengthen our compliance infrastructure so we will help extra world markets. Simply as importantly, it sends a robust sign to the market. When traders again a mission like ours—to make belief in funds accessible to everybody—it tells SMBs, “You’re not alone, and higher instruments are on their means.”
What can we anticipate from LiquidTrust within the months to come back?
Yi: We’re centered on increasing our footprint with monetary establishments and B2B platforms that wish to supply trusted funds with out having to rebuild every little thing from scratch. You’ll additionally see enhancements to our Micro Escrow™ expertise, together with extra configurability, broader use-case help, and even easier integrations.
And we’re persevering with to pay attention. Most of our greatest options have come from conversations with enterprise house owners and financial institution companions who simply need a greater approach to work. That’s what you possibly can depend on from us. We’ll maintain constructing, quietly and thoughtfully, to make belief simpler for everybody.
Notes:
SMB Ambitions barometer 2024
Worldwide B2B Funds: A Information for Entrepreneurs and Digital Companies
Borderless Funds Report, Oct 2023
Picture by Gerson Repreza on Unsplash
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