Moody’s announced an investment in Finagraph, a pioneering provider of automated financial data collection and business intelligence solutions.

Under the terms of the investment, Moody’s will gain a minority ownership stake in Finagraph and will receive a seat on its board of directors.

The investment underscores Moody’s commitment to applying advanced technologies to enhance the availability and quality of financial data and credit analysis on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Moody’s investment will enable Finagraph to further develop its technology and drive product adoption among both SMEs and small business lenders. In partnership with Finagraph, Moody’s expects to broaden its offering of credit risk solutions covering SMEs, including Moody’s Analytics Lending Cloud software and default risk models.

“We believe there is an important opportunity to better serve financial institutions that lend to small and medium-sized businesses with solutions that streamline the credit assessment and approval process,” said Mark Almeida, president of Moody’s Analytics. “Since our 2014 acquisition of WebEquity, we have extended our expertise in credit analysis and bank risk management to the small bank segment. Finagraph’s technology and insight into small business financials enable us to accelerate our efforts to transform the way lenders interact with small businesses, helping bankers make better, faster lending decisions for the growing SME market.”

Founded in 2011, Finagraph offers innovations that automate the collection of financial data by integrating directly with widely-used accounting software. Finagraph’s solutions help banks analyze this data to gain insight into borrowers’ financial performance and assess credit risk.