FinTech Pipe has acquired Glen.ai, an AI-powered spend management firm, as it seeks to boost its suite of spend management solutions for small businesses.

Glen.ai focuses on automation and AI-powered tools which aim to improve transparency across company expenses procedures, providing one-click access to spending trends, billing errors, and savings opportunities, as well as delivering real-time, cross-functional budgeting and bill pay tools.

It leverages AI to examine patterns over time and help business owners make timely, data-driven decisions.

Pipe, which specialises in enabling embedded financial solutions for software platforms, said the deal will help it achieve the goal of becoming an embedded finance company also offering spend management solutions for small businesses via its partners.

In a statement, Pipe cited figures from the American government agency US Small Business Administration, noting how half of small businesses today use personal credit cards and fail to separate business and personal expenses, emphasising a lack of focused services in the spend management arena.

“While mid-market and enterprise companies have access to robust spend management solutions, such as Brex and Ramp, there remains a gap for SMBs who don’t have a complete view of their business expenses,” it said.

With the transaction, Glean.ai will continue to be available to existing and new customers directly from Glean.ai.

Luke Voiles, chief executive officer at Pipe, commented on the acquisition: “It’s a strategic move that empowers us to address the two biggest pain points faced by small businesses today—access to capital and effective spend management.”

The move comes at a time of innovation in the financial services industry for business owners.

Earlier this month, Mastercard launched a new programme to accelerate the adoption of embedded virtual card number (VCN) technology in commercial payments.

On Tuesday, US Bank also announced the roll out of a spend management platform for businesses to help them monitor, track and control their card-based spending.

Currently available for customers who have a US Bank business credit card, the platform aims to help business owners drive down costs, reduce manual work, and save time using robust card controls, integrated accounting, and intuitive receipt capture through a single dashboard.

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