Defacto

What Defacto does

Defacto SAS is a Paris-based, ACPR-licensed (No. 734364) fintech founded in 2021 by Jordane Giuly, Morgan O'Hana and Marco Gires that provides instant short-term working capital financing to European small and medium businesses. Its product suite is organised around four lines: Defacto Direct (a self-serve, 100% digital offering for invoice financing, stock/inventory financing, supplier discounts, treasury advances and a corporate credit card), Defacto Connect (a white-label REST API for platforms and B2B marketplaces to embed financing under their own brand), Defacto Liquid (a no-code referral programme) and Defacto Core (a modular Lending-as-a-Service infrastructure sold to banks and factors, with Société Générale Factoring and GIFEN as reference customers). The technology stack is cloud-native on AWS, ISO 27001:2022 certified, DSP2-compliant for open-banking data ingestion, and centred on an AI-based scoring engine that analyses 97–153 indicators in 27 seconds; the company reports 99.11% of financings executed via instant transfer and 99.995% platform uptime. The business model is multi-stream: usage-based interest/fees on direct SME lending, per-financing commissions on Connect/Liquid partner integrations, and managed-services revenue from Core LaaS contracts with banks and factors. Active markets span France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium, with a focused Defence Technological and Industrial Base (DTIB) vertical scaled to €1.8Bn of annual financing capacity as of March 2025. Defacto reports having financed 20,000–25,000+ SMEs with 240,000+ loans deployed and 75M+ transactions processed, and has raised €40M+ in equity plus €167M in securitisation debt facilities (Citi, Viola Credit).

Name

Defacto

Legal name

defacto, SAS

Website

https://getdefacto.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Defacto is an ACPR-licensed Paris-based fintech that provides instant, API-driven short-term working capital financing — invoice, stock, supply chain and treasury — to European SMBs, with embedded lending via 20+ partner platforms and a Lending-as-a-Service offering for banks.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Embedded SME Lending

NAICS

Credit Intermediation and Related Activities (522), Activities Related to Credit Intermediation (5223), Depository Credit Intermediation (5221)

SIC

Miscellaneous Business Credit Institution (6159), Short-Term Business Credit Institutions (6153)

akta.pro primary industry

Institutional DeFi & On-Chain Liquidity Infrastructure (Permissioned DeFi, Lending) (FSAGAMAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Borrowing/Lending Risk & Credit Infrastructure (on-chain credit scoring, risk engines, insurance wrappers) (FSAPAEAI), Liquidity Provision & Market Making Protocols (AMMs, concentrated liquidity, LP tooling) (FSAPAEAF), Money Markets & Collateralized Debt Positions (CDPs) (FSADAMAM)

Keywords

• Embedded sme lending
• Working capital financing
• Invoice financing api
• Lending-as-a-service
• Ai credit scoring

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Interest/fees on direct SME lending: Daily pricing calculated automatically at activation on financed amounts (e.g., starting from 0.038% per month); revenue scales with loan volume across direct lending products (invoice financing, stock financing, supplier financing, treasury advances, credit card).
2. Embedded lending commissions (Defacto Connect): Commission earned on each financing activated via partner integrations (marketplaces, fintechs, e-invoicing platforms); defined upfront per partnership; real-time tracking available.
3. No-code referral commissions (Defacto Liquid): Commission on each financing initiated through partner referral links (no-code programme); partners earn revenue share without engineering integration.
4. Lending-as-a-Service (Defacto Core): Infrastructure services to banks and factors: ACPR licence, scoring engine, risk management under their brand; recurring/managed services revenue model.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion5 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Defacto is an ACPR-licensed French fintech that provides instant short-term working capital financing to European SMBs through an API-first, embedded lending platform. Its offerings span direct digital lending to SMBs (invoice financing, stock/inventory financing, supplier discounts, treasury advances, corporate credit card), white-label embedded lending APIs for B2B marketplaces and fintech platforms, a no-code referral program for partners, and a modular Lending-as-a-Service (LaaS) infrastructure for banks and factors. Credit decisions are generated in 27 seconds by an AI-native scoring engine using real-time open-banking data.

Product overview

Defacto operates as a platform-plus-modules architecture offering four main product lines that together form a connected short-term financing infrastructure for European SMBs. The core direct lending offering, Defacto Direct, provides 100% digital instant credit to SMEs across five modules: Accounts Receivable Financing, Stock/Inventory Financing, Supplier Discounts (supply chain financing), Treasury Flex (cash flow financing), and a corporate Credit Card. For partner enablement, Defacto Connect offers a white-label embedded REST API that lets B2B marketplaces, fintech platforms, and e-invoicing platforms (such as Pennylane) integrate Defacto's lending under their own brand, while Defacto Liquid provides a no-code referral program for partners wanting zero-development activation. For financial institutions, Defacto Core delivers a modular Lending-as-a-Service (LaaS) infrastructure including instant onboarding, AI-native scoring, risk monitoring, programmatic origination, composable funding, and repayments. A vertical specialization, Defacto DTIB, addresses the Defense Technological and Industrial Base sector. Defacto Insights, a custom GPT, sits as an AI-driven add-on for SMB financing education. Across all products, the platform is ACPR-licensed, ISO 27001-certified, and PSD2-compliant, with credit decisions issued in 27 seconds based on real-time banking and accounting data analysis.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Defacto Direct: 100% digital and instant direct lending product for SMEs (Defacto's core SME financing offer).
• Defacto Connect
• Defacto Liquid
• Defacto Core

Quantifiable outcome

• +20% revenue growth for Upway via stock financing with Defacto.
• +9 more outcomes

Named customers22 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration16 records

AI capability10 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered major integration partner, flagship sector partner (dtib), flagship integration partner, flagship distribution partner, flagship reference partner (embedded financing), major reference partner (embedded financing), flagship reference partner (bank/factor) and standard integration partner.

• Mooncardmajor integration partnerStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 May 2026Integrated Defacto to automate financing accompanying Mooncard's corporate expense management and payment offering, allowing Mooncard customers to access short-term financing on top of payment-card spend.
• GIFENflagship sector partner (dtib)Strategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Defacto is a financing partner of GIFEN (Groupement des Industries Françaises de l'Énergie Nucléaire and broader French industrial base ecosystem); referenced as a key partner in serving Defense Technological and Industrial Base (DTIB) SMBs with €1.8 Bn deployed by March 2025.
• Pennylaneflagship integration partnerStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 December 2024Deep strategic partnership: Pennylane, certified as a Partner Dematerialization Platform (PDP) in September 2024, integrated Defacto's real-time lending decision engine into its accounting/electronic-invoicing tool. Defacto financed €30m of working-capital needs for Pennylane clients in the first 11 months of 2024 and is the first PDP integrated financing use case.
• Qontoflagship distribution partnerStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2024Integrated Defacto Liquid into Qonto's B2B banking flow with minimal engineering, giving Qonto's 600,000+ SMB customers one-click access to short-term financing under Qonto's brand.
• Maltflagship reference partner (embedded financing)Strategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Added Defacto Liquid so freelancers can be paid instantly at the end of each mission while Malt waits on client payments. Highlighted as a flagship reference partner for embedded B2B financing.
• Kactusmajor reference partner (embedded financing)Strategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Integrated Defacto Connect into its booking/event-services flow to offer embedded financing directly to clients, increasing the average contract value of its customers.
• Société Générale Factoringflagship reference partner (bank/factor)Implementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2024Listed as a reference partner for banks and factors, leveraging Defacto's Core infrastructure to enhance SME credit offerings.
• Sellsystandard integration partnerTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2024Integrated invoicing/accounting tool in Defacto's partner ecosystem: SMB users can connect Sellsy to feed invoices and accounting data into Defacto's scoring and financing flow.
• Sage 100standard integration partnerTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2024Accounting software integration enabling SMB customers to share accounting data with Defacto for real-time eligibility and financing.
• Quickbooksstandard integration partnerTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2024Accounting integration allowing Quickbooks users to share financial data with Defacto for instant credit decisioning.
• Odoostandard integration partnerTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2024

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• October: Paris-based SMB lending platform offering direct and marketplace-style B2B financing across Europe. Most directly comparable French-headquartered competitor to Defacto, with overlapping products (invoice financing, embedded credit) and a similar Europe-first focus.
• Hokodo: London/Paris-based B2B trade credit and embedded financing provider for marketplaces and SMBs. Directly comparable to Defacto Connect — offers API-first B2B credit embedded into partner platforms, sharing the same 'embedded invoice financing' proposition.
• iwoca: London-based fintech providing flexible short-term lending (up to £1m) to European SMBs via both direct and embedded channels (including accounting/ERP integrations). Comparable business model: API-driven SMB working capital lending with embedded distribution, although UK-anchored.
• Billie: Berlin-based B2B BNPL and embedded invoice financing provider for SMBs and platforms. Directly comparable in product (B2B BNPL, invoice financing), distribution model (embedded into SaaS/marketplaces), and target market (European SMBs, particularly DACH).
• Uncapped: London-based revenue-based and working capital lender for European SMBs and e-commerce businesses. Comparable in offering non-dilutive, short-term working capital to growth-stage SMBs via a digital-first underwriting process.
• Wayflyer: Dublin-based revenue-based financing platform for e-commerce and DTC SMBs. Comparable in funding inventory/working capital for SMBs through fast, data-driven underwriting — overlapping with Defacto's stock financing and e-commerce segment (e.g., Upway).
• Capital On Tap: London-based SMB credit card and working capital provider with a digital onboarding flow. Comparable in delivering revolving SMB credit via an instant, data-driven decision engine — overlapping with Defacto's corporate credit card product.

Broad incumbents

• Funding Circle: London-listed (LSE) SMB lending marketplace with broad European footprint. Comparable in B2B SMB lending product set, but operates as a broad public-market incumbent across multiple geographies rather than an embedded, API-first specialist.
• Tide: London-based SMB neobank offering integrated business accounts, invoicing, and increasingly embedded financing products. Comparable in serving European SMBs with a digital-first, multi-product platform that includes credit and embedded partner integrations.

Emerging players

• Karmen: Paris-based revenue-based financing and embedded lending startup for French SMBs and SaaS companies. Closely comparable emerging French competitor in the embedded SMB financing space, with overlap in revenue-based and short-term working capital offerings.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat7 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/getdefacto
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/getdefacto

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds6 records

Investors10 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments1 record

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Defacto