Forwardai
“Can a single API aggregating real-time SMB accounting, banking, and cash flow data become the standard underwriting and decisioning infrastructure for small business lenders and financial institutions?”
ForwardAI started as an accounting data infrastructure provider, building APIs to connect small business accounting software (QuickBooks, Xero) to financial institutions for lending underwriting and cash flow forecasting. Over time the company expanded from pure data connectivity into a broader open finance platform — adding banking data, payment data, and commerce data aggregation. A sister product, Forwardly, emerged as a real-time payments tool for SMBs, demonstrating the company's move from B2B infrastructure into closer-to-end-user embedded finance tooling. The core thesis remains infrastructure-first: enabling lenders, banks, and fintechs to access real-time SMB financial data without manual document collection.