Beyond Point Solutions for Embedded Lending: Why B2B Platforms Need Credit Network Infrastructure

Most platforms exploring embedded finance start by asking the wrong question. They ask: which embedded lending provider should we integrate? But lending is a point solution. And point solutions, by definition, can only solve part of the problem.

The real problem in B2B payments isn't capital access. It's transaction coordination.

Buyers want to pay later, extending their days payable outstanding. Suppliers want payment now, compressing days sales outstanding. That adverse tension sits at the center of every invoice your platform processes. Embedded lending addresses one side of that equation. Network infrastructure addresses both.

Here's what that distinction means in practice and why it determines whether your embedded finance strategy generates real, compounding platform revenue or just incremental lift.

The Scale of the Opportunity Demands More Than a Point Solution

There are $35 trillion in B2B payments in the US annually - roughly 3x the $10 trillion in annual card spend. Despite that scale, checks still account for nearly 50% of B2B payments. Only $2.4 trillion of SMB B2B payments are currently processed online, according to Manhattan Venture Research. The rush to digitize this volume is real. But digitization alone doesn't solve the underlying coordination problem. It just moves manual processes into software.

The complexity is structural: 43% of B2B invoices are paid past due (an 18% jump since 2019), average payment terms have stretched to 31 days (up from 24 pre-pandemic), and the average invoice takes 14.1 days to process. Every one of those data points represents friction that embedded lending can partially address—but not eliminate.

Why Embedded Lending Became the Default Answer

Embedded lending took off because it solved a real problem. Traditional banks underserved SMBs due to high onboarding friction and risk-averse underwriting. Fintech lenders stepped in with faster decisioning. Modern providers can underwrite and approve funding in under 30 seconds. Businesses using embedded lending borrow on average $235,000, 48% more than those using traditional credit. Satisfaction rates are higher too: 72% of businesses using embedded lending report being very satisfied, compared to 57% using traditional credit.

The category created genuine value.

The problem is that first-generation embedded lenders looked at a B2B coordination problem and shipped a B2C capital solution.

What's Actually Wrong With Legacy Embedded Lenders

The embedded lending category has a structural flaw that most platforms discover only after integration: these products were designed for consumer checkout flows and retrofitted into B2B workflows. Pipe advances capital against revenue history with no visibility into individual invoice approvals. Slope provides B2B BNPL at checkout but leaves suppliers waiting and reconciliation manual. TreviPay routes transactions through its own network rather than yours, capping the value that accrues to your platform. Lendflow orchestrates underwriting decisions but doesn't touch settlement, supplier payouts, or reconciliation. What they all share is a tendency to copy-paste the consumer BNPL product strategy - issuing credit at the point of transaction without controlling the flow of funds around it.

The result is predictable. Platforms integrate an embedded lender, generate some revenue share on lending volume, and still face the same reconciliation mess, the same late payment complaints from suppliers, and the same buyer churn from fragmented net terms across their supplier base.

What OatFi's Credit Network Infrastructure Actually Solves

B2B credit network infrastructure is not embedded lending with more features. It's a different architectural approach.

Where embedded lending sits on one side of a transaction, network infrastructure integrates with both. That means connecting to AP platforms to receive buyer invoice approvals and commit-to-pay events. It means connecting to AR platforms to see supplier invoicing, delivery confirmations, and reconciliation status. It means controlling the settlement flow and timing - not just providing capital and stepping back.

This bidirectional visibility changes what's possible on both sides of every transaction.

For buyers, network infrastructure enables consolidated billing cycles that unify payment terms across their entire supplier base. Instead of managing separate net-30, net-45, and net-60 agreements with each supplier, buyers settle on a single date with unified terms. Extended DPO improves cash flow in a way that actually moves the needle. Buyers who need additional flexibility can convert any invoice or entire billing cycle into installments. That's a materially better product than net terms alone.

For suppliers, the value centers on certainty. When a buyer in the network approves an invoice, that approval becomes a binding commit-to-pay event. The supplier knows with certainty they'll receive payment on the due date - regardless of buyer behavior. Early payment options at relationship-based rates give suppliers liquidity on demand. And automated reconciliation eliminates the 20 to 40 hours per month most SMBs spend manually matching payments to invoices. The supplier no longer needs to underwrite their own customers. The network absorbs that risk entirely.

The Revenue Difference for Your Platform

An embedded lending integration generates revenue share on lending volume. You're monetizing capital provision to one side of your transaction base.

Credit network infrastructure generates platform revenue across three dimensions simultaneously: credit provision (buyer terms and supplier early pay), payment coordination (settlement timing and flow of funds management), and reconciliation automation (data synchronization between AP and AR systems). You're monetizing the full value of coordinated B2B transactions, not a single product on a single side.

For AP automation platforms, buyers get extended terms while suppliers get guaranteed payment and auto-reconciliation All within the existing workflow. The platform earns on total transaction value. For AR platforms, guaranteed supplier payments eliminate the late payment risk that drives supplier churn. For B2B marketplaces, the model works on both sides simultaneously, keeping buyers and suppliers inside the ecosystem rather than routing them to a third-party lender's network.

The Compounding Advantage

One structural advantage of network infrastructure that embedded lending products can't replicate: pricing that improves with relationship history.

A buyer and supplier with 24 months of clean payment history receive materially better rates than new participants. The credit network prices transaction-specific risk based on who's actually transacting and not generic creditworthiness scores. This creates powerful retention incentives. Leaving the credit network means losing relationship history and reverting to the uniform pricing that legacy embedded lenders apply to everyone. Staying means rates that continue to improve as transaction volume and history accumulate.

Legacy embedded lenders treat every transaction as equally risky. Network infrastructure treats every buyer-supplier relationship as unique and prices accordingly.

The Right Question to Ask

If your goal is to add a financing feature and earn incremental revenue, an embedded lending integration can accomplish that. The path is well-worn.

But if your goal is to meaningfully differentiate your platform, increase buyer and supplier retention, and build a revenue stream that scales with transaction volume rather than just lending volume - the embedded lending model has a ceiling. It solves the liquidity problem for one side. It doesn't address the coordination problem that makes B2B payments structurally painful for both.

That's the problem OatFi was built to solve. OatFi operates as B2B credit network infrastructure - coordinating working capital, payment settlement, and reconciliation across the entire buyer-supplier relationship. Platforms integrate via API in roughly 90 days, retain full ownership of the customer UX, and earn revenue share across credit and monetizes payments. OatFi holds the balance sheet and manages underwriting, funding, repayments, and risk. The platform keeps the relationship; OatFi closes the loop on the transaction.

The platforms that solve coordination will capture disproportionate value as $35 trillion in B2B payments continues moving online. The gap between point-solution embedded lenders and network infrastructure is not a feature gap. It's an architectural one and it's the difference between a feature and a moat.

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