Partnership combines Stewards’ small-business financing platform with Rain’s payments infrastructure
Stewards Inc. (Nasdaq: SWRD) (“Stewards” or the “Company”), a diversified financial platform spanning private credit, real assets and digital infrastructure, today announced a partnership with Rain, a global stablecoin-powered payments platform, to develop a Stewards-branded business card designed to enable a new way to access and deploy approved capital.
This partnership will combine Stewards’ existing small-business financing platform with Rain’s stablecoin-based card issuing and payments infrastructure. Stewards will remain responsible for its customer relationships, underwriting, financing decisions and approvals, while Rain will issue and manage the cards and settlement process.
“We’ve spent years building relationships with small-business owners around their need for capital,” said Shaun Quin, President and CEO of Stewards. “The opportunity now is to make that relationship more recurring. Rather than starting a new financing transaction every time a customer needs capital, we’re building toward an experience where qualified customers can access available capital when they need it and use the card to put that capital to work.”
Read More on Fintech : Global FinTech Interview: AI and the future of fintech with Hugh Cumming, CTO, Vena
Since 2020, Stewards and its partners have facilitated more than $153 million in direct and syndicated funding to more than 10,000 small businesses. Stewards intends to introduce the card to qualified customers within its existing small-business ecosystem, creating a program unlike traditional financing that provides recurring access to capital and everyday business spending.
A More Flexible Way to Access Capital
Unlike a traditional financing transaction in which a business receives its entire approved amount at once, the planned platform is designed to allow qualified customers to access available capital as business needs arise, without completing a new application for each use.
The card is intended to provide a direct way for customers to deploy that capital for business purchases, giving qualified businesses greater flexibility over both when capital is accessed and how much is used.
“What we’re building is about giving small-business owners more flexibility in how they access and use capital,” said Vaughan Korte, Chief Operating Officer of Stewards. “Rather than treating every need for capital as a new transaction, the goal is to create a more connected experience where qualified customers can have recurring access to capital and use it when the business actually needs it. The technology behind that experience may be sophisticated, but for the customer, it will feel incredibly simple and natural.”
Connecting Capital and Payments
Rain provides full-stack payments infrastructure powered by stablecoin technology, enabling faster settlement, lower costs and more efficient access to funds. Rain-issued cards will allow qualified Stewards customers to pay vendors, purchase inventory and cover other business expenses wherever the cards are accepted.
Dolomite is expected to provide underlying ledger and connectivity infrastructure supporting the platform, helping connect Stewards’ financing capabilities with the card experience.
The architecture is being designed so that the technology operates largely behind the scenes. Customers would continue to interact with Stewards as they currently do while Rain manages the business card issuance. Business owners will never need to interact directly with stablecoins and can use approved capital through a familiar business card experience.
“Rain brings sophisticated card and payments infrastructure to what we’re building,” Quin said. “Our focus is on combining that infrastructure with the customer relationships, underwriting and capital capabilities we already have at Stewards. The result is intended to be a much more connected relationship with the businesses we serve.”
Expanding the Stewards Business Capital Relationship
The planned card represents a broader evolution of Stewards Business Capital from individual financing transactions toward an ongoing financial relationship with its customers. The Company believes this platform can reduce friction for returning customers while creating additional opportunities for Stewards to deepen relationships with businesses it already knows and has previously served.
“The program isn’t intended to be another standalone product,” Korte said. “It’s being designed as another way for qualified customers to access the Stewards capital relationship they already have. That gives us an opportunity to reduce friction for the customer while creating a deeper and more recurring relationship between Stewards and the businesses we serve.”
The Stewards business card is expected to become available to qualified customers in early Q1 2027, subject to completion of technical integration, compliance requirements, applicable approvals and other third-party requirements.
Catch more Fintech Insights : Global FinTech Innovations Are Transforming Banking into Continuous Financial Guidance
[To share your insights with us, please write to psen@itechseries.com ]
