Online lender National Funding is using AI to ease borrower anxiety and meet small-business customers on their own terms.  

As economic uncertainty weighs on businesses, the company is deploying AI for more personalized offerings and better underwriting standards, David Gilbert, founder and chief executive, told FinAi News. 

Gilbert pointed to three sources of anxiety weighing on small businesses: AI itself, the Iran war and inflation. 

“The anxiety of inflation is probably their biggest concern,” he said, adding that tariffs have made it harder for owners to predict their costs. 

The company is deploying AI across marketing, customer experience and collections to communicate with borrowers at their own speed and time, Gilbert said. 

He framed the approach as a “concierge” model –  using the technology to understand a customer’s business, match the loan to their needs and give them confidence that the lender will support them. 

That matters because the loans are high stakes for borrowers, Gilbert said. He compared the experience to taking out a mortgage, one of the most stressful financial decisions a person can make.  

“These loans are meaningful to our customers,” he said. 

The San Diego-based lender has an average loan size of about $70,000 and originates roughly $75 million, serving verticals including special trade contractors, construction, trucking and restaurants, Gilbert said. 

The company recently closed three rounds of financing, including a $70 million corporate note and a securitization extension to lean into its growth and develop AI technology, Gilbert said. 

Digital versus advisory lending 

AI also is helping National Funding define where the lending journey splits between a fully digital experience and a human adviser, Gilbert said. 

Loans as long as 90 days and up to roughly $50,000 can be a fully digital, AI-driven, point-of-sale experience, Gilbert said. That end of the market suits gig workers and micro-ticket borrowers who want to go online, get a few options and move on, he added. 

Above that threshold, customers tend to want an adviser to customize a program, Gilbert said.  

“Most people in small business want to talk to an adviser because they want to customize a program,” he said, adding that it depends largely on the size and the use of funds. 

Even as digital options expand, the sales and educational components remain individual-based, Gilbert said. He compared the dynamic to mortgages, where borrowers still want to talk to someone despite a largely digital process. 

National Funding has served more than 100,000 customers and has about 11,000 active customers on its books, Gilbert said. 

Register here for the FinAi Lending Summit, set for Oct. 7-8 in Las Vegas.