Small and medium-sized companies (SMBs) face huge challenges with regards to international funds. Alternatives to succeed in new markets throughout borders and abroad have by no means been higher. However in contrast to 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 gives a expertise that reduces the danger and equalizes the facility in enterprise relationships to allow companies of any measurement to accomplice, collaborate, and scale with flexibility, ease, and confidence. Earlier this yr at FinovateSpring in San Diego, Yi and her co-presenter, Head of Enterprise Growth Sean Popock, demonstrated how LiquidTrust’s newest resolution allows companies to carry funds in third-party micro escrow accounts to protect in opposition to delays and defaults, in addition to fraud.
Along with LiquidTrust’s look at FinovateSpring in San Diego, the corporate additionally lately introduced securing $4 million in seed funding. The spherical featured investments from Anthemis Feminine Innovators Lab Fund, Resolute Ventures, and Inspire 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 immediate 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 study LiquidTrust’s options that present quick, verified international funds for these corporations and, importantly, the potential impression of the Trump administration’s tariff coverage on SMBs with regards to worldwide funds.
Inform us about your self and the corporate you based. What drawback 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 international funds. What we noticed many times, particularly when working with these SMBs, is that belief stays an enormous barrier to development. Companies need 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.
It is a actual challenge. SMBs within the US supply items and companies from a mean of 9 totally different international locations (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 instantly held again from international enlargement due to the complexity and dangers tied to present techniques (2).
LiquidTrust exists to resolve that. We accomplice with monetary establishments and marketplaces to offer fashionable 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 type of transaction safety that was as soon as solely obtainable to giant enterprises to the broader enterprise world. Sadly, greater than half of SMBs nonetheless imagine that cross-border fee techniques aren’t constructed for companies of their measurement. We’re right here to alter that.
LiquidTrust affords two main international fee strategies. Are you able to define these strategies and clarify the use circumstances for every?
Yi: At present, we accomplice with banks, credit score unions, and B2B platforms to supply their SMB clients and members two methods to pay by way of one trusted platform: Easy Pay, for quick, verified international 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 companies are being exchanged. This feature makes use of our proprietary Micro Escrow expertise to carry funds and launch them solely as soon as particular milestones or situations are met. It’s particularly helpful in cross-border offers, customized orders, or any scenario that entails 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. The truth is, the worry of fraud is the primary motive over 1 / 4 of SMBs say they’ve averted attempting to make or obtain on-line cross-border funds altogether (3).
Are you able to inform us a few favourite implementation, deployment, or characteristic of your expertise?
Yi: One among my favorites is a current implementation with a logistics platform that serves SMB exporters and importers. Earlier than LiquidTrust, lots of their clients have been wiring cash upfront to abroad suppliers with no recourse if one thing went flawed. It was aggravating 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 respect most is how seamless the expertise is. The expertise is totally embedded into the platform’s current workflow, and the customers don’t want to consider “escrow” as a separate course of. It simply works.
You lately wrote in regards to 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 are able to’t do something about it.” Second, there’s the impression 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 difficult sufficient. When tariffs out of the blue pressure SMBs to shift sourcing to a completely new nation, it’s greater than only a logistics drawback—it may be the distinction between staying in enterprise and never. And who’s to say they’ll be fortunate sufficient to search out one other reliable accomplice?
That is the place fintechs might help. We will construct fee techniques 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 international funds?
Yi: Our staff was already working carefully with SMB house owners, and throughout the 2022 downturn, we saved listening to the identical factor: funds have been falling by way of. Some weren’t getting paid on time—or in any respect. Others have been paying suppliers however by no means receiving what they ordered, with no actual strategy to recuperate their losses. It grew to become clear in a short time that the prevailing 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 actually helpful. I really like simplifying complicated techniques, 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 lately 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 are able to help extra international 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 count on from LiquidTrust within the months to come back?
Yi: We’re targeted on increasing our footprint with monetary establishments and B2B platforms that need to provide trusted funds with out having to rebuild all the pieces 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 hear. Most of our greatest options have come from conversations with enterprise house owners and financial institution companions who simply need a greater strategy to work. That’s what you possibly can rely on from us. We’ll preserve 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
Photograph by Gerson Repreza on Unsplash
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