SAPI
London, GB · Founded 2020 · 244 employees on LinkedIn · 7 known investors
SAPI provides payment-linked financing where repayments are collected directly from card and account-to-account payment flows, serving small business owners—including many immigrant and woman-owned businesses—often excluded by banks. It works through partners such as payment service providers, marketplaces, brokers, vendors, and fintechs, offering a platform that connects repayment-at-source rails with underwriting and servicing.
Founders & leadership
SAPI was founded in 2020 by Mai Le.
Investors · 7
Also in the syndicate · 2
Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcements$80M disclosed across 1 round · 2025
- $80MGrowth (debt and equity)Nov 2025 · 3 sources
Hudson Cove Capital Management (lead), Passion Capital, Triple A Capital
Source ↗
Source: company announcements and press reports — follow each round's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026SAPI is a fintech company providing payment-linked financing to small businesses, in which a business receives an agreed amount upfront and repays automatically as a small, pre-agreed share of its revenue or card takings. Repayments are collected at source through existing card and account-to-account payment flows, so borrowers do not manage separate loan schedules. The company markets simple, fixed pricing agreed upfront and states an average application time of five minutes and 24 hours from application to offer.
Alongside its core advance product for merchants, SAPI offers credit products aimed at payment companies themselves: Instant Payout, which lets payment firms give their business clients immediate access to funds; Settlement Pre-funding, which supplies liquidity to bridge settlement cycles; and Custom Payment Liquidity, tailored credit for payment-ecosystem business models. Its stack combines underwriting, loan servicing and capital access so payment firms and marketplaces can offer credit without building full banking infrastructure. Reported use cases include independent retailers, hospitality businesses and e-commerce sellers.
Founding story
SAPI was founded in 2020 and co-founded by Mai Le and Alexis van Lennep. Le previously worked at Goldman Sachs in London, where the company says she helped build and scale lending programmes totalling more than £10 billion; van Lennep's background includes consultancy at AlixPartners. Le is co-founder and CEO and van Lennep is co-founder and CCO.
Business model
SAPI extends capital to small businesses directly and through partners, recovering principal and a fixed, pre-agreed fee via automatic deductions from the borrower's payment flows. For payment companies it provides liquidity and credit products (instant payout, settlement pre-funding, custom liquidity), supplying the underwriting, servicing and capital layer that partners embed into their own platforms.
Financing is priced with simple, fixed pricing agreed upfront and no hidden fees, with repayment taken as a small pre-agreed share of revenue or card takings.
Traction
The company states it has advanced more than £50m to small businesses, with 90% of borrowers immigrant- or woman-owned and an 82% renewal or returning-customer rate. At the time of its November 2025 funding announcement it reported £30.4m ($40m) advanced to date.
Latest developments
The November 2025 round is intended to scale payment-linked financing to more small businesses; SAPI said the term sheet for the credit facility was signed 17 days after the first investor meeting. The company has created a fintech entity in Vietnam to accelerate growth across Asia-Pacific markets.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Operates in embedded finance and small-business working capital, positioning itself as a credit provider for the payment ecosystem in the US, UK and EU markets.
Repayment is collected at source from payment flows rather than through separate loan schedules; the company combines proprietary repayment collection with its own underwriting and servicing, and positions its underwriting to serve business owners, particularly immigrant- and woman-owned firms, that traditional lenders overlook.
Technology
A platform that connects repayment collection through existing card and account-to-account payment rails with evidence-led underwriting and loan servicing, offered to partners via a light integration with configurable controls.
Go-to-market
Dual channel: direct online application by merchants, and distribution through partners — payment service providers, marketplaces, brokers and introducers, vendors and fintechs/neobanks — which embed SAPI's capital product with configurable controls and light integration while SAPI provides underwriting and servicing.
Small and micro businesses, including independent retailers, hospitality operators and e-commerce sellers, with a stated 90% of borrowers being immigrant- or woman-owned; and, on the partner side, payment service providers, marketplaces, introducers and brokers, vendors serving businesses, and fintechs and neobanks.
Geography
Headquartered in London (Senna Building, Gorsuch Place, E2 8JF) with a second office in Hanoi, Vietnam (174 Thai Ha, Dong Da District), serving the US, UK and EU markets; a fintech entity was recently created in Vietnam to support growth in Asia-Pacific.
History
Founded in 2020 and operating from London and Hanoi, SAPI built a repayment-at-source lending product embedded in payment flows. In November 2025 it announced a £60.9m ($80m) financing package combining roughly £57m ($75m) of debt with £3.8m ($5m) of equity, led by Hudson Cove Capital Management with continued support from Triple A Capital and Passion Capital. The company also established a fintech entity in Vietnam to support expansion into Asia-Pacific markets.
Risks & controversies
Cited context for the business includes declining use of external finance among smaller UK firms, with the share using external finance falling from 50% in late 2023 to 43% by mid-2024, with micro and minority-led companies most affected.
Compiled by commissioned research from 7 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Competitors · 5
by search overlap
Companies competing with SAPI for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline · 2
launches, deals, and filingsSAPI announced a financing package of approximately £57m ($75m) in debt plus £3.8m ($5m) of equity, led by US alternative credit asset manager Hudson Cove Capital Management, with continued support from existing equity backers Triple A Capital and Passion Capital. Proceeds are to expand its repayment-at-source lending product for small businesses.
$80M source ↗
SAPI created a fintech entity in Vietnam to accelerate growth across Asia-Pacific markets; the company operates from London and Hanoi.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 7
primary sources listed
- SAPIsapi.com · web
7 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does SAPI do?
- SAPI offers payment-linked financing to small businesses, with repayments collected at source from card and account-to-account flows.
- Who founded SAPI?
- SAPI was founded by Mai Le in 2020.
- Who are SAPI's investors?
- SAPI's investors include Digital Horizon, Digital Horizon VC, Insiders Ventures, Start Capital, Syndicate One.
- How much funding has SAPI raised?
- SAPI has disclosed $80M raised across 1 round.
- Where is SAPI headquartered?
- SAPI is headquartered in London, GB.