Opnfi, a company that provides a B2B embedded finance (EmFi) platform, and actyv.ai, an AI-powered enterprise SaaS platform with embedded B2B buy now pay later (BNPL) and insurance, have announced a strategic partnership to bring EmFi solutions for businesses in high-growth potential markets in South Asia, ASEAN, the Middle East and Africa.

The partnership will enable actyv.ai to leverage Opnfi’s EmFi platform, which facilitates orchestration between enterprise customers and financial services institutions. This will allow actyv.ai to develop innovative EmFi solutions tailored to the specific needs of their corporate clients in one centralised platform. The solutions will cover the entire spectrum of supply-side financing, ops-side financing and sales-side financing, using artificial intelligence-based discovery, algorithmic credit processing and open API-based payment systems.

The partnership aims to unlock value for the millions of intermediaries and retail distributors who power supply chains in the region, by democratizing access to finance and empowering them with EmFi capabilities. The partnership also aims to drive economic growth, financial inclusion and entrepreneurship in the emerging markets.

Embedded finance is a fast-growing trend that involves placing a financial product in a non-financial business process, customer journey or e-commerce platform. According to Bain & Co, embedded finance accounted for $2.6 trillion of total US financial transactions in 2021 and its total value is expected to exceed $7 trillion globally by 2026. The biggest and fastest growing geographies for EmFi in the global south region are India, ASEAN and GCC countries, with the total trade in ASEAN worth $2.5 trillion.

Amit Sharma, Managing Partner at Opnfi, said: “Our strategic partnership with actyv.ai enhances our EmFi proposition and commitment to be a leading orchestrator of embedded financial services throughout the region. Our EmFi platform capabilities will enable actyv.ai to support a number of different use cases that will benefit their customers and the wider society.”

Raghunath Subramanian, Founder and CEO at actyv.ai, said: “Our partnership will transform financial services in the South Asia, ASEAN & MEA markets, by combining our expertise and technology. We will offer innovative and affordable EmFi solutions that will help businesses grow and thrive in the digital economy.”