Fintech Takes x Fundbox presents Engineering the SMB Capital Stack Episode 2: Distribution (with Tanay Jaeel at Stripe)

Nov 11, 2025

Tanay Jaeel, Head of Product at Stripe Capital, shares insights on embedded lending and how it addresses small businesses' capital access challenges. He highlights the shift towards powering financing via vertical SaaS platforms instead of direct lending. Tanay explains the key role of AI in providing contextual lending solutions, ensuring financing appears precisely when needed. The conversation also covers Stripe's partnership strategies for international expansion and the benefits of using platform data to enhance lending structures.

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INSIGHT

Capital As A Strategic Product Opportunity

Stripe launched Capital after merchants ranked access to capital as their top growth barrier in a survey.
The team saw strong adoption, retention, and profitable portfolio performance validating the opportunity.

ADVICE

Embed Financing Where Merchants Work

Partner with vertical SaaS platforms to surface financing where businesses already operate.
Use payments data and repayment flows to underwrite and collect efficiently in embedded scenarios.

INSIGHT

Context Shapes Capital Relevance

Different verticals require different product education and framing for capital offers.
Platforms know their users' context, and combining that with capital expertise improves relevance and uptake.

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Welcome back to our Engineering the SMB Capital Stack, sponsored by our friends at Fundbox.

In this four-part series, we’re exploring small businesses, small business lending, and the forces shaping how small businesses access capital. I’m joined by Prashant Fuloria, CEO of Fundbox, as cohost.

In Episode 1, we explored why small business lending is so distinctly challenging. Now, in Episode 2, we turn to distribution: how capital actually reaches small businesses.

To tackle that question, we invited Tanay Jaeel, Head of Product at Stripe Capital, who’s spent nearly five years building and scaling Stripe’s embedded lending products.

Highlights include:

How Stripe identified capital access as both a customer pain point and a platform growth opportunity

The shift from serving merchants directly to powering embedded financing for vertical SaaS platforms
Lessons from expanding lending internationally and balancing build-vs-partner decisions
How AI is transforming contextual lending (helping SMBs understand why and when to borrow)

Tanay also explains how embedded lending works best when it’s invisible, surfacing capital in the exact moment a business owner realizes they need it. From coffee shops buying new equipment to SaaS founders bridging subscription cycles, context is everything.

If you want to understand how distribution is becoming the real differentiator in small business lending, this conversation is essential listening.

Don’t forget to subscribe to catch future episodes and insights!

This episode was brought to you by Fundbox.

As a leading capital infrastructure provider behind the digital SMB economy, Fundbox is focused on enabling platforms to embed financial tools directly into their user experiences. Learn more here.

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