Speed, Transparency, and Trust: How Lumi's Tech-Driven Approach is Empowering Lending

Lumi is a homegrown fintech disruptor helping Australian small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) achieve financial success with structured solutions. Lumi's mission to revolutionise SMB lending was not without its challenges. The Australian financial landscape, while primed for disruption, presented a unique set of hurdles. 

Traditional financial processes, laden with bureaucracy and delays, don’t meet the needs of fast-moving SMBs. They need access to capital quickly, securely, and transparently. Lumi's partnership with Docusign was the one of the catalysts that enabled them to overcome these challenges and deliver on their promise of frictionless funding.

We caught up with Carolina Anderson, Lumi's Head of Product, to hear how Lumi’s partnership with Docusign enabled them to empower SMB growth.

Time is Money  

For SMBs, every second counts. Essential growth opportunities can disappear if capital isn’t available now, but the banking sector tends to approve loans far too sluggishly. 

“SMBs often require near-instantaneous funding without sacrificing due diligence,” Carolina said. “Traditional lending processes, with their lengthy approval times and paperwork, are too slow to meet SMBs’ fast-paced needs.”

What’s more, SMB owners simply don’t have the time to wade through overly complex administrative exercises. 

“When you’re a business owner, time will be your most valuable — yet limited — resource. You might be racing across the city, snatching a glance at emails when you can, while fighting fires. If you need to review and sign a contract within 10 minutes, the chances of finding a printer and scanner are pretty low,” Carolina continues. 

It was clear to Lumi that traditional lending processes weren’t meeting the needs of the modern SMB owner—and they sought to change that.

However, disrupting the lending process required making fundamental changes to the way contracts are managed. Every customer needs to sign an agreement that authorises Lumi to execute a loan contract on their behalf. If Lumi chose to set up outdated physical agreement management processes, this could add hours, if not days, to the lending process, as customers would have to scan, print, and email back contracts. 

By integrating Docusign eSignature, Lumi ensured that signing agreements was a frictionless process. Customers can sign agreements instantly and digitally, leading to much faster turnarounds. 

"It can take just a few minutes for a contract to be signed with Docusign," Carolina notes. “Contracts that would take days to process could be signed and finalised in minutes, leaving our team free to focus on delivering funding solutions.”

Breaking Down Financial Barriers 

Over half of Lumi’s customers sign contracts on their mobile.  

"Fuss-free lending is at Lumi’s core. There’s nothing ‘fuss-free’ about struggling to open a clunky PDF on your phone or tracking down your nearest printer so you can sign an urgent contract.” Carolina said. 

If customers couldn’t read agreements properly, this would be an insurmountable obstacle for Lumi. Carolina stated, “Transparency and simplicity are essential for responsible lending. We must be confident that customers understand what they’re signing, regardless of the digital device they use.” 

Docusign's mobile-friendly platform aligned perfectly with Lumi's customer base. SMB owners can review and sign contracts from anywhere, at any time. 

By integrating Docusign into their workflow, Lumi could provide customers with a clear, digital view of their funding agreements by allowing customers to easily access information in the palm of their hands. 

"Docusign helps us become faster and more transparent than banks," Carolina states. This enhanced transparency built trust and ensured that customers were fully informed before signing on the dotted line.

Signing securely 

SMBs account for over 98 per cent of all businesses. Combined, they generate $500 billion of economic activity; constituting one-third of Australia’s GDP.

But our economic backbone is more prone to cyber-attacks. By merit of their smaller size, they rarely have access to the robust protection that larger organisations can use to guard themselves against common attacks like email compromise and online banking fraud. 

In FY23-24, the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) found that small businesses lost an average of $49,600 and medium businesses lost an average of $62,800 per cyber attack. As years of slow economic growth continue to stifle business growth, one cyber attack could be catastrophic for an SMB. 

As cyber threats and financial fraud continue to rise in Australia, Lumi needed a partner that offered robust security features while maintaining a seamless user experience. 

Docusign's robust security features provided Lumi and its customers with peace of mind. "Docusign is not just a product but a brand as well," Carolina said. "Customers trust it, and for good reason."

The platform's advanced encryption and authentication protocols ensured that every transaction was secure and compliant while helping safeguard customers against email phishing attacks. 

Pioneering frictionless funding  

By partnering with Docusign from the outset, Lumi overcame common roadblocks facing their fintech peers before they even became issues. 

Lumi’s vision, supported by Docusign's technology, enabled Lumi to deliver on its promise of frictionless funding, empowering countless Australian businesses to thrive and grow. 

For other fintech leaders, Lumi's experience offers valuable lessons. By embracing technology, prioritising transparency, and focusing on the customer experience, fintech companies can not only disrupt the industry but also empower businesses to achieve their financial goals. 

Partnering with Docusign was a natural choice for Lumi. They saw the potential of e-signatures to streamline Lumi's lending process and deliver on their promise of rapid, transparent funding solutions. Carolina said, "We need to leverage fast tech, and Docusign enabled us to do just that."

"We are a disruptor in the industry," Carolina explains. "We take the 'tech' in fintech very seriously."