Defacto

Defacto is a Paris-based, ACPR-licensed lender providing short-term working capital financing to European SMBs through an API-first model. Rather than relying on documentation, the platform connects to a business’s bank accounts, accounting software and invoicing tools to assess financing capacity in real time, with an average quote-to-capital time cited at under 27 seconds.

Products include accounts receivable financing, purchase order financing, inventory financing, supplier and supply chain financing, treasury advances and B2B cards, with terms up to 120 days for invoices and six months for treasury advances. The business runs on three lines: Defacto Direct for SMBs borrowing directly; Defacto Connect, a white-labelled embedded lending API letting fintechs, B2B marketplaces and e-invoicing platforms offer credit inside their own products while bearing no credit risk; and Defacto Core, lending-as-a-service infrastructure for banks and factoring companies.

1. Three product lines: Defacto Direct, Defacto Connect (white-label embedded lending API) and Defacto Core (lending-as-a-service for banks and factors).

2. Real-time underwriting from connected bank, accounting and invoicing data; average quote-to-capital under 27 seconds.

3. Partner integration in 1-10 business days via documented REST API with sandbox; partners take a pre-agreed commission and carry no credit risk.

4. Reported metrics: 25,000+ SMEs financed, EUR 1.3 billion deployed, 20+ embedded partners, 99.995% platform uptime.

5. ACPR-licensed financial institution, ISO 27001 certified; handles compliance and collections on behalf of partners.

6. Backed by Northzone, Headline, Global Founders Capital and Citi Ventures.