Buy-now-pay-later for business commerce - suppliers paid on day one, buyers approved in seconds.
Consumers got one-tap credit at checkout a decade ago. Businesses did not. Most B2B trade still runs on emailed invoices, 30-to-60-day terms and credit decisions that take weeks. Fluid, a Singapore fintech founded in early 2023, is closing that gap - putting flexible payment terms inside the supplier's own checkout and settling the cash in the background.
Fluid sits between a supplier (or marketplace) and its business buyers. When a buyer places an order, Fluid's AI underwriting engine assesses their creditworthiness in roughly ten seconds and offers to spread the cost over installments or deferred terms. The supplier is paid upfront - typically day one - while Fluid carries the credit and collects from the buyer later. Reconciliation, invoice matching and payment tracking are automated on top.
It is, in effect, buy-now-pay-later re-engineered for the realities of business commerce: larger tickets, repeat buyers, thinner margins for error, and a genuine need for credit risk to be priced rather than waved through. The founding team pairs consumer-fintech speed with institutional lending discipline, which is the balance this market demands.
The company's original domain, gofluid.io, now points to getfluid.ai - a signal that Fluid is broadening from a B2B pay-later product into what it frames as "Accounts Receivable AI," automating more of the order-to-cash cycle for the suppliers it serves.
Backed by Insignia Ventures Partners and a roster of operator-investors, Fluid has grown roughly tenfold in its first year and processed more than 200,000 transactions across Singapore and Malaysia.
*US$21.9B = estimated annual B2B financing net-interest income across Southeast Asia (2023), per Insignia. Figures are company- and investor-reported and approximate.
A supplier who insists on payment upfront loses the order. A supplier who offers terms becomes an unwilling lender - fronting cash, chasing invoices and absorbing the risk. Fluid removes that tradeoff.
Offer buyers flexible terms while getting paid upfront. Fewer late payments, less manual chasing, and reported basket-size lift of about 47% with 15% more new buyers.
Approval in seconds instead of weeks of paperwork. Pay in installments or on deferred terms, preserving working capital without a separate bank facility.
Invoice matching, reconciliation and payment-status tracking handled by software, embedded into existing websites, apps, ERPs and accounting tools.
A business places an order on a supplier site, app or marketplace where Fluid is embedded.
Fluid's underwriting engine assesses the buyer and offers terms in roughly ten seconds.
Fluid advances funds to the supplier upfront and takes on the buyer credit.
The buyer pays later on installments or deferred terms; reconciliation is automated.
"Fluid is the first to tackle this challenge with a truly customer-centric approach."Yinglan Tan - Founding Managing Partner, Insignia Ventures Partners
Embedded financing at the point of purchase - installments or deferred terms for buyers, day-one settlement for suppliers.
Machine-learning credit assessment that approves business buyers in about ten seconds, replacing weeks of manual KYC.
Invoice matching, payment tracking and reconciliation that cut back-office work for finance teams.
Plug-in payment and financing for websites, apps, marketplaces, ordering platforms, ERPs and accounting software.
An expansion from pay-later into AI-driven automation across the wider order-to-cash cycle.
Revenue from lending spreads and transaction fees; buyer credit lines funded via secured institutional debt facilities.
Versus banks. Traditional B2B credit means lengthy KYC and approvals that stretch into weeks. Fluid compresses that to seconds and lives inside the supplier's checkout rather than a separate lending relationship.
Versus invoice factoring. Factoring is built around blue-chip receivables and slow, manual processes. Fluid targets the dynamic, higher-velocity world of SMEs, distributors and e-commerce transactions.
Versus other BNPL. Consumer BNPL underwrites individuals for small tickets. Fluid underwrites businesses for larger, repeat purchases - a different risk model and a different integration surface.
The opening. Investors describe Southeast Asian B2B pay-later as a "blue ocean" with limited direct competition from established players, against an estimated US$21.9B annual net-interest pool in regional B2B financing.
Fluid is not only a software company; it is a lender, which makes how it prices and funds risk as important as its product design.
How it earns. Fluid's revenue comes from two places: the financing spread it earns on the credit extended to buyers, and transaction fees on the payments that flow across its platform. Both scale with volume rather than headcount, which is the appeal of embedded finance.
How it funds credit. Advancing cash to suppliers on day one requires capital. Fluid layers secured debt facilities from institutional providers on top of its equity, so its own balance sheet is not the ceiling on how much financing it can extend.
Where the expertise shows. The hard part of B2B pay-later is underwriting businesses quickly without inviting defaults. Fluid's founding CFO ran Asia for a private-credit fund and previously invested at IFC - credit discipline is built into the cap table, not bolted on.
Why security matters. Handling payment data and credit decisions for thousands of businesses raises the compliance bar. Fluid holds ISO 27001 certification, the information-security standard institutional partners and larger suppliers tend to require.
The data advantage. Every transaction feeds the underwriting engine. As repeat buyers cycle through, Fluid accumulates a picture of real payment behavior that a first-time bank applicant can never provide - a moat that compounds with volume.
The platform bet. The move toward "Accounts Receivable AI" suggests Fluid sees pay-later as a wedge. Own the checkout and the ledger, and the natural expansion is automating collections, reconciliation and cash-flow forecasting for the same customers.
Former Regional GM at Atome and a leader in Uber Eats restaurant operations across Asia Pacific. Sets Fluid's product and market direction.
Atome's first product leader and former Head of Product at Coupang Pay. Owns Fluid's product and platform experience.
Former Head of Asia at private-credit fund Lendable, with prior investment work at IFC. Leads capital and risk.
| Round | Amount | Date | Lead / Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | US$1.8M | 2023 | Iterative, New Stack Ventures |
| Series A | US$5.2M | Feb 2024 | Insignia Ventures Partners (lead), Iterative, New Stack Ventures |
| Debt facilities | Undisclosed | Ongoing | Institutional debt providers (fund buyer credit lines) |
Equity total: US$7M. Debt terms undisclosed. Figures per company and investor announcements.
Trasy Lou Walsh, Steven Li and Ruoyun Yang launch Fluid to modernize B2B purchase financing.
Iterative and New Stack Ventures back the earliest version of the platform.
Insignia Ventures Partners leads a round taking total equity funding to US$7M.
Reports 10x growth, 200,000+ transactions and 3,000+ customers; reframes around Accounts Receivable AI.
Fluid serves suppliers, distributors and B2B marketplaces along with their business buyers - more than 3,000 businesses across Singapore and Malaysia. Named users include beverage giant Coca-Cola, industrial marketplace Eezee, food-supply platform TreeDots and Malaysian coffee roastery Ben & Belle.
"Modern B2B payments is critical infrastructure to successfully transition business commerce online."Nate Pierotti - Principal, New Stack Ventures
Fluid lets B2B suppliers and marketplaces offer their business buyers flexible credit terms or installments at checkout. Fluid pays the supplier upfront, extends credit to the buyer, and automates reconciliation.
It was founded in early 2023 in Singapore by CEO Trasy Lou Walsh, CPO Steven Li and CFO Ruoyun Yang, whose backgrounds span Atome, Uber, Coupang Pay, Lendable and IFC.
About US$7M total - a US$1.8M seed from Iterative and New Stack Ventures, and a US$5.2M Series A led by Insignia Ventures Partners announced in February 2024, plus debt facilities that fund buyer credit lines.
Fluid approves buyers in about ten seconds using AI underwriting instead of weeks-long manual KYC, and embeds directly into supplier checkout flows, ERPs and marketplaces rather than operating as a standalone lender.
Fluid serves 3,000+ businesses across Singapore and Malaysia, including suppliers like Coca-Cola, Eezee and TreeDots, and has processed 200,000+ transactions.
Video interviews and product demos: none publicly confirmed at time of writing. Check Fluid's LinkedIn and website for the latest.