Aspire bets on AI to reshape SME banking

Digital-first lender pushes embedded finance and automation to transform workflows.

Aspire is betting big on embedded finance and artificial intelligence to redefine how small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) manage their financial operations.

Andrea Baronchelli, Co-founder and CEO of Aspire, said the company’s current focus is on integrating financial systems directly into the daily workflows of SMBs. He noted this approach links core banking with SME benefit systems—two critical components of the financial experience.

The aim is to streamline payment flows and accounting processes that are often managed manually or through disparate software. “You can think about some of the payment flows, financial products that have been typically run on an event. And then you can think about accounting, payables, seat management that has been run on Excel sheets or some software,” he added.

Baronchelli highlighted two developments in banking that are particularly exciting for Aspire. The first is embedding financial products directly into SMB workflows. “When we try to think about how to approach the problem that a business has, you think about the SMBs from payroll and how the workflow and financial services can coexist in the same application,” he said. Aspire is also exploring how payroll and other financial services can be integrated into a single application for efficiency.

The second major trend is the rise of AI-driven innovation. “When we connect payment services with the business workforce, you find a lot of opportunities to automate the entire job from typically a finance manager or a treasurer or an accountant that AI can almost completely automate,” Baronchelli said.

Looking ahead, Aspire sees AI as central to the evolution of SME banking. “AI is definitely one of the most exciting,” Baronchelli said. “We want to continue to build both towards the internal applications … but also helping our clients to automate entire jobs.”