Mastercard and Kee Platforms Launch Embedded Financing to Boost SME Growth

Mastercard has teamed up with Kee Platforms to roll out embedded financing for small businesses, micro‑retailers and solo entrepreneurs through the Mastercard Merchant Cloud. The idea is to make credit access simpler and, frankly, a lot fairer for the many SMEs that still struggle to secure working capital—especially across emerging markets in the Middle East. I’ve seen plenty of founders in the region tell me how a lack of timely credit can make or break their month, so this move feels spot on.

What’s interesting here is that Mastercard isn’t offering credit itself. Instead, the partnership gives acquiring banks and payment institutions a new way to offer loans and credit lines directly within the digital tools merchants already use. By tapping into precision credit scoring—essentially analysing transaction patterns to understand cash flow in real time—they can tailor options like microloans, revolving credit or instalment plans. I reckon this kind of “credit where you work” model could remove a lot of the faff SMEs usually face when applying for funding.

Deepak H. Saluja, the founder and CEO of Kee Platforms, said the company is honoured to partner with Mastercard, adding that the two aim to let millions of businesses and consumers access credit seamlessly during their day‑to‑day digital journeys. And believe it or not, Kee Platforms has been getting attention for its AI‑driven approach, even being highlighted at Mastercard’s EDGE forum.

The backbone of all this is the Mastercard Merchant Cloud. With links to more than 240 acquirers worldwide and support for over 35 payment types, it’s designed to help businesses navigate global commerce without getting lost in technical complexity. I remember chatting with a small café owner in Amman who told me that juggling different payment systems was “a bit of a headache, you know?”—so the promise of a unified setup is something many merchants would be chuffed to bits about.

According to Gaurang Shah, Mastercard’s executive vice president for Global Acceptance and Merchant Solutions, the collaboration marks another step in the company’s push to expand financial inclusion and help MSMEs thrive in an increasingly digital economy. On the flip side, the impact will depend on how quickly local lenders adopt these tools; not every bank moves at the same pace, definately.

For SMEs around the region—and especially for the Arageek readers who often share stories of battling cash‑flow gaps—this kind of embedded financing could open doors that were previously bolted shut. If it scales as promised, it might just become one of those quiet shifts that ends up transforming how small businesses grow.

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