MYOB partners with Valiant to offer SMEs predictive financing

MYOB has struck a partnership with Sydney-based fintech Valiant to offer small businesses data-informed financing options for fast access to capital.

The addition of Valiant’s data-led offering to MYOB’s accounting platform will enable small businesses to receive predictive financing options that recommend potential lending solutions based on a business’ upcoming capital needs.

Founded in 2015, Valiant is a business loan marketplace that uses an algorithm to match users with different lending options. Through the partnership, these options will be integrated into MYOB’s Essentials platform, allowing businesses to access working capital from more than 80 lenders, with providers ranging from the big four banks to niche lenders.

Financing options include term loans, business overdrafts, commercial and development lending, fit-out financing and asset finance.

Speaking to SmartCompany, Andrew Baines, MYOB general manager for financial services, explains the partnership will allow MYOB’s accounting platform to become “a one stop shop” for small businesses’ capital needs.

“Valiant is really helping us make our customers’ lives easier by giving them access to multiple products and multiple lenders,” Baines says.

“It gives us the power to give the customer choice.”

Baines says the partnership with Valiant is one of several important steps MYOB has taken to broaden the services and expand the number of financing options available to businesses via its platform. 

The partnership comes after a recent deal with the invoice financing fintech Butn in April, and in November, MYOB joined forces with the workplace software startup Flare to offer customers onboarding and employee engagement functions, as well as superannuation management.

“This is one of many partnerships, and we see this one as critical because it’s a way of using the data on our platform for the benefit of the customer,” he says.

According to MYOB research, 26% of small business owners and operators find access to finance a source of a lot to extreme pressure, particularly in the last 12 to 18 months.

Alex Molloy, founder and chief executive of Valiant, tells SmartCompany that the pandemic significantly affected businesses needs, particularly their need to access capital at the right time.

“COVID-19 really shone a spotlight on how critical access to capital was for small businesses,” Molloy says.

Over the last five years, Valiant has collected data on the decisions small businesses make about credit products at different stages of their life cycle. Combining the use of this data with MYOB’s platform will allow businesses to opt in and share their data with Valiant, so they can receive offers relevant to their circumstances.

Valiant’s credit options are already available via MYOB’s website. However, the integrated solution will become available in MYOBs Essentials platform by the end of the year.

“We thought it was in the best interest of small businesses to put an offering in front of customers as soon as we could and then build out from there,” Molloy says.