The Emerging Middle Market: i2c Report Reveals Infrastructure Gap Slowing Growth for Fast-Scaling U.S. Businesses

Nearly half of fast‑scaling middle‑market firms are missing growth opportunities as financial institution infrastructure and credit offerings fail to keep pace with their needs—pushing 87% to rely on personal funds to sustain operations

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--i2c Inc., a global financial technology innovator, today released a new report titled “The Emerging Middle Market: When Operational Complexity Grows Faster Than Financial Infrastructure,” conducted in collaboration with PYMNTS Intelligence. Based on a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. businesses generating between $1 million and $50 million in annual revenue, the study reveals a widening infrastructure gap that is constraining the growth of some of the fastest-scaling companies in the market.

The findings reveal that while fast‑scaling middle‑market businesses are confident in their growth trajectories, the financial infrastructure meant to support them has fallen behind. Credit access, payment systems, and core financial products have not kept pace with the speed and complexity of their expansion. As a result, firms are increasingly relying on personal funds, delaying strategic investments, and missing revenue opportunities—not due to a lack of ambition, but because financial institutions’ tools and offerings are not designed for this critical stage of growth.

“This research demonstrates that fast-growing middle market companies often lack access to the working capital and investment capital they need to expand,” said Seth Perlman, Global Head of Product at i2c. “There are clear opportunities for financial services companies and technology providers to accelerate access to financing and to create better cash flow management tools.”

Key findings from the survey include:

• Growth is outpacing financial infrastructure: Only 43% of the fastest-scaling middle market firms, those growing at 21% or more annually, say their financial tools match their current scale, compared to 75% of more established peers growing at less than 6% per year.
• Credit constraints limit scale: 46% of high-growth businesses are locked out of the credit they need to scale, frequently missing growth opportunities due to limitations in speed, flexibility, or structure.
• Strategic growth has stalled: Nearly 9 in 10 high-growth firms have postponed key investments due to financial constraints tied to outdated tools and processes.
• Personal financing is filling systemic gaps: With weekly or daily cash flow shortages, 87% of firms rely on personal funds to support operations, with many using it as a primary, not temporary, funding source.
• Better infrastructure unlocks faster growth, less borrowing, and more control: Nearly half of fast-scaling firms say faster payments would directly enable growth or improve cash flow visibility.

According to the report, “Fragmented payment stacks, back-office systems installed before current growth trajectories began, and credit processes built on backward-looking metrics are creating structural drag on businesses whose operational complexity has already outpaced the infrastructure designed to support them.”

“Confidence is not the issue; these businesses overwhelmingly believe in their prospects for growth,” said Karen Webster, CEO, PYMNTS. “The issue is that the financial infrastructure supporting them lacks the products and solutions for companies that are scaling this quickly. That gap is where opportunity and risk now sit.”

i2c's unified platform offers the flexibility and control required to close that gap, ensuring financial infrastructure can adapt to increasing operational complexity. Through next‑generation card processing; real‑time visibility; configurable credit and payment capabilities; and enterprise‑grade controls, i2c enables product offerings built to support the speed and complexity of the emerging middle market. The result is infrastructure that keeps pace with demand—helping financial institutions and fintechs support growth‑stage businesses with faster payments, smarter credit access, and the operational foundation needed to sustain momentum.

Access the full report available for complimentary download here.

Register here to attend the i2c research-based webinar “The Emerging Middle Market is Scaling Faster than its Financial Stack” on April 28 to gain deeper insights into the study and actionable steps for scaling smarter.

About i2c Inc.

An award-winning global financial technology innovator powering credit, debit, prepaid, core banking, and money movement solutions, i2c unifies banking and payments in an all-in-one platform, transforming product personalization with a customer-centric architecture and accelerating speed-to-market with composable building-block solutions. Financial institutions and fintechs globally trust i2c to help them quickly and efficiently configure and scale differentiated financial offerings in an evolving, competitive market. Powered by innovation and driven by trust for more than 25 years, i2c blends modern ingenuity with expert reliability to supercharge exceptional banking and payments experiences for millions of users and billions of transactions worldwide.

For more information, visit i2cinc.com and follow us on LinkedIn at @i2cinc.