SAPI Raises £60m Debt and Equity Package to Scale Payment-Linked Financing for Underserved SMEs

SAPI, the London and Hanoi-based fintech that embeds credit directly into digital payment flows, has closed a £60 million financing package — roughly £55 million in debt and £5 million in equity — led by Hudson Cove Capital Management, a US-based alternative credit manager making one of its first forays into the UK market. Existing equity backers Triple A Capital and Passion Capital continued their support. Notably, the term sheet for the credit facility was signed just 17 days after the first investor meeting, reflecting strong conviction in SAPI's approach to repayment-at-source lending.

Access to working capital remains a persistent challenge for small and micro businesses, particularly those run by women or immigrants. In the UK, the share of smaller firms using external finance fell from 50% in late 2023 to 43% by mid-2024, with the most underrepresented founders hardest hit. Globally, McKinsey estimates that the embedded finance market — encompassing credit, payments and other financial services delivered through third-party platforms — generated between €20 and €30 billion in 2023 and could surpass €100 billion by 2030, accounting for up to a quarter of retail and SME lending.

SAPI's infrastructure solves this by sitting inside existing payment flows rather than forcing small businesses through traditional bank application processes. When a merchant accepts a payment via a partner platform, SAPI's technology can underwrite and extend credit in that same moment, then automatically collect repayments from future revenues as they arrive. This 'repayment at source' model removes the friction of scheduled loan servicing and aligns repayment capacity directly with business performance. The platform currently serves independent retailers, hospitality operators and e-commerce sellers, and has now advanced more than $40 million to small businesses — 90% of which are immigrant- or woman-owned.

Co-founded by Mai Le, formerly a senior figure in Goldman Sachs's lending programmes in London, and Alexis van Lennep, who comes from an AlixPartners background, SAPI was built with inclusion as a founding principle. The company now operates from offices in London and Hanoi, and has recently established a regulated financial technology entity in Vietnam to accelerate growth across Asia-Pacific markets. The pace of the latest deal — from first meeting to signed term sheet in under three weeks — signals how quickly sophisticated credit investors are moving when they find an embedded finance model with real traction and a clear social impact thesis.

Hudson Cove's Fred Wang highlighted that SAPI's impact-led model aligns with the firm's existing work backing women- and minority-owned organisations, positioning this not just as a financial investment but as a values-aligned partnership. With the new capital, SAPI plans to scale its repayment-at-source technology, deepen integrations with payment platform partners, and push further into international markets — bringing its inclusive embedded credit infrastructure to business owners who have historically been left out of the lending conversation.

Sources

• Soapbox VC – SAPI raises a £60m credit line & equity package
• BusinessCloud – Financing platform SAPI secures £60m funding
• Fintech Futures – SAPI secures $80m funding in major US investment deal
• Sky News / Yahoo Finance – Small business finance firm SAPI lands $80m funding boost