Lili
“Can a freelancer/SMB neobank become the embedded financial OS for small businesses—both directly and through partner platforms via Lili Connect?”
Founded in 2019 as a mobile banking app for US freelancers, Lili built its initial proposition around fee-free checking, tax automation (Tax Bucket), and expense management. As the SMB market expanded, Lili broadened from solo freelancers toward all small business owners, layering in accounting, invoicing, bill pay, and savings. The 2024 launch of Lili Connect marked a deliberate pivot toward becoming an embedded finance infrastructure provider, allowing partner platforms to white-label Lili's full financial stack into their own products—monetizing both direct B2C customers and B2B2C channel revenue.