Equipment Finance Connect – A ground swell of enthusiasm

Photo courtesy of Equipment Finance News

Last month, I participated in my first  Equipment Finance News’ (EFN) Equipment Finance Connect event.

Since the EFN was launched in 2023, I have followed and worked with the team – Johnny Martinez, Quinn Donohoue, and Royal Media founder and CEO JJ Hornblass -- and have enjoyed EFN’s ground-up approach to the equipment finance industry focusing on dealers and manufacturers. I was attracted early on to their writing and stories by the prevalence of information regarding the equipment itself with a number of good articles on how the Internet-of-Things (IOT) plays a role in both equipment operations and finance which has been a passion of mine.

So, when I was asked to participate in a panel discussion, I enthusiastically said “yes” even though I wasn’t sure what to expect from the event. I was, however, confident that I would discover like-minded professionals and engaging conversations.

Having read Johnny Martinez’s article “3 key themes to watch at Equipment Finance Connect” on the way to the event, I had a good idea of what I might hear and see. With that in mind, here are the highlights of this year’s event:

Connect 2025 had three main themes this year: Tariff-driven uncertainty, Tightened credit standards, and Evolving technology. Each of these facilitated good discussions and some key takeaways.  I was personally involved in the technology theme. I participated on the Technology and AI Strategies panel expertly facilitated by Quinn Donoghue of Equipment Finance news with our customer Daryn Lecy of Oakmont Capital Services and another vender-customer pair comprised of Rohan Marfaia of DataCRaim and Christopher Johanneson formerly of Mitsubishi HC Capital America. I like how EFN pairs technology vendors and customers to get not only both sides of the technology application but also real-world assessment of the value. Quinn’s questions on AI applicability to workflows challenges both the venders and customers and reducing the disruption of business flow during tech integrations created great discussion both with the panel and the audience.

Then I was asked to help judge Tech Demo contest that had nine fintech companies working in the EF space provide demonstrations of their product in a pitch-deck format.

Theme take aways

Tariff-driven uncertainty

Tariffs were a hot topic in May both broadly across the country and at the conference. But the impact of tariffs was described as “we haven’t seen much of an effect yet.”  Some, mostly economists but some buyers, have been put off by the uncertainty around the tariffs, but both the Current Economic Trends panel and the audience overall forecasted a strong second half of the year. One lender said that his agricultural customers were more concerned about tariffs on the outputs – corn, soybeans & wheat, than on the equipment used to generate the outputs. I saw this as a “follow the money” comment that made sense to me. A big impact from tariffs was a no show at Connect 2025.

Tightened credit standards

Credit standards were discussed along with tariffs during the Current Economic Trends panel and like tariffs they were pretty much non-issue.  “Borrowers adapt” was a strong statement from one dealer describing the robustness we have scene through both credit standards and tariffs a like. When lenders tighten up at the dealer level used equipment prices go up which then drives some back to the new equipment. “100% financing will never go away” and “Everyone wants to make equipment an operating cost” were the seminal quotes. I had the feeling that most of this group, both OEMs and dealers, are involved with mission critical equipment whose users have more durable and adaptive behaviors than the more volatile consumer space.

Evolving technology

This was the theme in which I participated the most both as a panelist and as a judge on the Technology Demo session. Our panel discussion was focused on technology adoption/migration, particularly involving the cloud and AI. Cloud adoption and both its affordability and adaptability with modular architectures were key themes from the customer members – Oakmont Capital Services and Mitsubishi HC Capital. The message was very clear here – cloud architectures are table stakes today regardless of the size of the enterprise, i.e., whether a dealer or a large bank lender. But this AI discussion was much less academic, less buzz-word-bingo, thank others I have heard because the Connect audience is very much an on-the-ground group of dealers and lenders. Daryn and Christopher described real world uses of AI they have already implemented as well as what they are planning to do next. Quinn helped focus the discussion on the parts of the workflow most well suited for AI and automation.

Tech Demo Contest

The Tech Demo session had nine companies provide demonstrations and high-level business pitches of their new “fintech” offerings for this market. The companies were (links included);

• VisorPro
• Flyntlok
• Fundica
• Kaaj
• LeadX
• Multimodal
• Northteq
• QuickFi
• SAVVI AI

QuickFi and VisorPro won semi-finalist positions after the demonstrations. Following that, JJ Hornblass and I interviewed the two finalists with the goal of helping the audience evaluate the value of each more deeply and hear how an investor might look at each company. After our interviews, QuickFi was selected by the audience as the winner.  Congratulations Nate Gibbons and QuickFi team on another great demonstration and contest win.

I really enjoyed meeting and networking with dealers, OEMs, independents, and banks all aligned on one goal – growing their businesses in equipment finance. As a hardware guy I found it refreshing to hear ground zero accounts of the applications of the equipment that we spend so much time helping finance. One of the macro themes I am tracking and hearing about from multiple sources that AI and the abundances it is creating are shifting the value of economic transactions “towards the IP.” When I considered this thought in the context of equipment finance, I thought to myself “the equipment is the IP” so those closest to the equipment as opposed to those with capital are going to be the big beneficiaries of AI. The dealers and captive finance companies I saw at Connect 2025 were all smiling and optimistic. Who cares about tariffs and interest rates when you have AI on your side.

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