YouLend
YouLend is a London-based, PE-backed embedded financing platform that delivers revenue-based working capital up to £2 million to SMEs through integrations inside 300+ partner platforms including Amazon, eBay, Shopify, Worldline, Tide, and QuickBooks.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount251–500
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What YouLend does
YouLend is a London-headquartered, PE-backed embedded financing platform that delivers revenue-based working capital to small and medium-sized businesses through integrations inside the software, payments, and e-commerce platforms those businesses already use. The core product portfolio comprises Capital (revenue-based financing up to £2 million with repayment as a fixed percentage of sales and no interest), Instant Payouts (same-day settlement of card and online sales), and Spend (a business expense management product currently in beta). Underlying technology consists of battle-tested APIs plus no-code and embedded-component options that allow partners to go live in roughly a week, combined with data-driven underwriting that ingests real-time payment data via Open Banking and behavioral signals from 400,000+ merchant profiles for probabilistic forecasting, seasonality modeling, and credit decisioning.
YouLend firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- YouLend
- Legal name
- YouLend Limited
- Website
- https://youlend.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 251–500 employees
- Short description
- YouLend is a London-based, PE-backed embedded financing platform that delivers revenue-based working capital up to £2 million to SMEs through integrations inside 300+ partner platforms including Amazon, eBay, Shopify, Worldline, Tide, and QuickBooks.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
YouLend industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Embedded Lending Platform
- NAICS
- Sales Financing (52222), Activities Related to Credit Intermediation (5223), Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320)
- SIC
- Miscellaneous Business Credit Institution (6159), Finance Services (6199)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Embedded Lending & Credit (POS, Working Capital, Credit Lines) (FSAGALAD)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Payment Gateways & API Connectivity (FSAGABAB), Transaction Analytics & Cash-Flow Insights (risk signals, forecasting) (FSAGACAG), Open Banking APIs & Connectivity (FSAMAFAA), Payouts, Disbursements & Mass Payments Infrastructure (FSAGABAN)
Keywords
Where YouLend is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices4 records
Markets served
YouLend business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Revenue-Based Financing: YouLend provides revenue-based financing where businesses repay a fixed percentage of their sales rather than paying interest. Partners integrate this via API, and YouLend earns from the fixed fees on each transaction. No interest charges—only a fixed fee.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Capital financing up to £2,000,000 with revenue-based repayment |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | Instant Payouts for same-day transaction settlement |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels6 records
YouLend product offering
Product offeringCore offering
YouLend is a global embedded financing platform that provides revenue-based financing, instant payouts, and business spend management to small and medium-sized businesses through integration into partner platforms (e-commerce marketplaces, payment service providers, banks, brokers, and accounting software). Partners embed YouLend's financing products via API or no-code components, enabling their merchants to access working capital of up to £2,000,000 with revenue-linked repayments and fixed fees rather than interest.
Product overview
YouLend is a global embedded financing platform offering an integrated suite of financing products for e-commerce, payment, and technology platforms. The core product portfolio consists of Capital (revenue-based financing up to £2,000,000), Instant Payouts (same-day transaction settlements), and Spend (business expense management in beta). These products are delivered through three integration methods: No-Code (white-label managed solution), Embedded Components (API-based integration), and Custom API (full platform control). YouLend powers over 300 partner platforms including Amazon, eBay, Shopify, Worldline, Tide, Qonto, and QuickBooks, enabling them to offer embedded financing to their SME merchants without exposing their own capital.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Cash Advance: Embedded SME financing solution offering up to €250,000 with funds available in 48 hours, repayments linked to daily turnover, launched with Worldline
- Buckaroo Capital
- Epos Now Capital
Products and services
- Capital Revenue-based financing product providing funding up to £2,000,000 for small and medium-sized businesses. Merchants repay with a fixed percentage of their daily sales automatically, with no interest to pay — just a fixed fee. Funding decisions available in as little as 24 hours. Distributed exclusively through YouLend's B2B partner platforms.
- Instant Payouts Cash flow optimisation product that pays out merchant funds as soon as they make a sale. Transactions are settled on the same day for both online and card sales, providing instant cashflow to merchants integrated through YouLend's partner platforms.
- Spend Business spending management product currently in beta that extends YouLend's embedded finance capabilities to help businesses manage and optimise their expenses.
- Buckaroo Capital White-label working capital financing service integrated directly into the Buckaroo payment platform for SMEs across the Benelux region. Repayments structured as a percentage of future revenue.
- Worldline Cash Advance Embedded SME financing solution launched with Worldline providing up to €250,000 with funds available in 48 hours. Uses real-time payment data for tailored funding with repayments automatically linked to daily business turnover.
Quantifiable outcome
- 9 out of 10 applicants approved for funding
- +6 more outcomes
Companies that use YouLend
Customer profileNamed customers18 records
Segments7 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
YouLend technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration11 records
AI capability3 records
Feature5 records
YouLend partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
23 partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.
- BuckaroocoreLaunch of Buckaroo Capital, a working capital financing service integrated directly into Buckaroo's payment platform for SMEs. Available to 54,000+ customers across Benelux with full platform integration expected before summer 2026.
- Intuit (QuickBooks)corePartnership to provide working capital financing to QuickBooks business customers in the UK through Intuit's Capital Marketplace. Full national rollout following 2025 pilot. Offers GBP 1,000 to GBP 2 million with 24-hour decisions.
- WorldlinecoreLaunch of Cash Advance embedded finance solution offering up to €250,000 to eligible SMEs in Europe with funding available in 48 hours. Uses real-time payment data for tailored offers. Initially launched in Belgium and Netherlands with European expansion planned.
- TeyacoreTeya selected YouLend to expand financing offers for merchants across UK and Europe.
- QontocoreExpansion of embedded financing options in Germany by integrating YouLend's lending services into Qonto's platform, enabling small businesses to access quick funding without separate applications.
- UpworkcoreLandmark partnership to expand financial access for US freelancers, agencies, and microbusiness owners. Already funded $1 million since June 2025 launch. Plans to expand to other markets in the future.
- TidecoreExpansion of embedded SME financing partnership from UK to Germany since June 2025. Approximately 1,000 applications and EUR 7 million funding processed monthly in Germany.
- Epos NowcoreEpos Now Capital powered by YouLend achieved 6x higher application rates and 2x higher approval rates vs incumbent provider. Extended £11.5 million to over 600 small businesses in UK. Successfully launched in US (November 2022).
- AmazonflagshipFlexible financing for UK Amazon sellers launched as part of Amazon's funding options. Sellers can access quick, flexible funding integrated into their seller dashboard.
- eBayflagshipFlexible financing solution integrated into eBay platform helping empower UK and German restaurant and retail businesses to grow.
- ShopifycoreEmbedded financing integration for Shopify merchants seeking working capital.
- PaysafecorePartnership to launch merchant financing in the US, providing fast and flexible business funding for Paysafe merchants.
- GlovocorePartnership to enable local restaurants on Glovo's platform to access financing for growth, building on Glovo's mission of supporting restaurant partners.
- DojocoreCash advance funding partnership with highly documented APIs. Dojo has hit £1 billion in funding through the partnership.
- MolliecoreEmbedded financing integration for Mollie's merchant customers.
- SumUpcoreFinancing integration for SumUp's small business merchant base.
- FiservcoreFinancing integration for Fiserv merchant customers.
- HotelbedscorePan-European partnership to connect travel businesses to fast, flexible funding.
- myPOScoreEmbedded financing partnership across UK, Europe, and US markets.
- FreshBookscoreFinancing integration for FreshBooks accounting software users.
- Just EatcoreFinancing integration for Just Eat restaurant partners.
- EtsycoreFinancing integration for Etsy sellers.
- orderbirdcoreFlexible financing integrated seamlessly into orderbird's platform for German restaurant businesses.
Scale indicators19 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights7 records
YouLend competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Stripe Capital: Stripe's embedded lending product offering revenue-based financing and working capital to merchants using Stripe payments. Directly competes with YouLend for the same platform-embedded capital use case, with the added advantage of owning the underlying payment data.
- Shopify Capital: Shopify's in-house merchant cash advance product for Shopify merchants. A direct competitive threat and a partner-or-competitor tension given Shopify is also a YouLend distribution partner.
- Square Capital (Block): Block's embedded lending arm providing working capital to Square merchants. Closely comparable business model — revenue-based financing embedded into a payments platform — and a US market peer.
- Clearco: Revenue-based financing provider focused on e-commerce and SaaS merchants. Closely comparable business model with similar SME underwriting approach, though more North America-skewed.
- Wayflyer: Embedded revenue-based financing platform for e-commerce brands, with a heavy focus on Shopify, Amazon, and Walmart sellers. Direct comparator in merchant cash advance space.
- Liberis: Embedded business funding platform providing revenue-based finance to SMEs via integrations with payment processors and software platforms. Closely comparable model and UK/European footprint.
- iwoca: UK-based SME lender offering working capital and flexibly-priced loans, increasingly through embedded partnerships. Comparable customer segment and product, with stronger UK direct-presence focus.
Broad incumbents
- Klarna: Public BNPL and embedded commerce credit provider with merchant-facing financing products. Larger and broader platform, but overlaps in SME working capital and embedded merchant financing.
- Funding Circle: UK-listed SME lending platform with broader loan products and embedded distribution via strategic partnerships. Larger, public-market incumbent in adjacent SMB finance space.
Emerging players
- Parafin: US-based embedded financing infrastructure provider offering working capital and capital-embedded products via software platforms. Comparable business model with US focus and emerging partner ecosystem.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
YouLend social profiles
Digital presenceYouLend compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
YouLend financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
YouLend leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
YouLend funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors4 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
YouLend M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about YouLend
What does YouLend do?
YouLend is a global embedded financing platform that provides revenue-based financing, instant payouts, and business spend management to small and medium-sized businesses through integration into partner platforms (e-commerce marketplaces, payment service providers, banks, brokers, and accounting software). Partners embed YouLend's financing products via API or no-code components, enabling their merchants to access working capital of up to £2,000,000 with revenue-linked repayments and fixed fees rather than interest.
Is YouLend a public or private company?
YouLend is a private company. It is classified as private equity controlled and is currently operating.
When was YouLend founded?
YouLend was founded in 2016. It employs 251 to 500 people.
Where is YouLend based?
YouLend is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does YouLend make money?
One revenue line is on record: revenue-Based Financing.
Who are YouLend's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Stripe Capital, Shopify Capital, Square Capital (Block), Clearco, Wayflyer, Liberis and iwoca. Broad incumbents are Klarna and Funding Circle. Parafin is listed as an emerging player.
Does YouLend have an API?
Yes. YouLend offers a rich API suite enabling partners to embed financing into their platforms. The Developer Hub provides documentation for three integration options: No-Code (fully managed, co-branded, YouLend-hosted journey), Embedded Components (prebuilt APIs and components in partner branding with minimal code), and Custom API (full control over how capital is offered, approved, and managed). The platform processes payment data via Open Banking to generate tailored funding offers and uses data-driven underwriting technology. APIs are battle-tested according to the company. Developer documentation is at docs.youlend.com.
What industry is YouLend in?
YouLend's product category is Embedded Lending Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAGALAD, Embedded Lending & Credit (POS, Working Capital, Credit Lines), with a secondary code of FSAGABAB, Payment Gateways & API Connectivity. Its NAICS code is 52222 and its SIC code is 6159.