In a significant boost for the small business sector, London-founded finance platform SAPI has secured a substantial $80 million injection of capital. The funding round, finalised this week, positions the company for major international expansion.
Breaking Down the Funding
SAPI has obtained $75 million in debt financing alongside $5 million in equity. The investment round was spearheaded by Hudson Cove, a prominent US-based alternative credit asset manager. Existing investors Triple A Capital and Passion Capital also continued their backing of the venture.
The company was established in 2020 by co-founders Mai Le, a former Goldman Sachs executive, and Alexis van Lennep, an ex-AlixPartners professional. With bases in both London and Hanoi, SAPI has already advanced tens of millions of pounds to small enterprises.
A Mission to Support Overlooked Entrepreneurs
The vast majority of SAPI's clients are either immigrant- or female-owned businesses, groups often underserved by traditional lenders. The platform specialises in embedded finance – a market McKinsey consultancy predicts could exceed €100 billion by 2030.
This model integrates financial services directly into the platforms where businesses already operate, aiming to reverse the decline in external funding access for smaller UK firms.
Mai Le, SAPI's co-founder, emphasised the transformative potential of this funding. "Having the right backer at the right time can fundamentally change someone's life and the trajectory of the business they've started," she stated. "This funding round lets us scale payment-linked financing that repays at source and reaches more business owners who are too often overlooked by traditional lenders."
Global Growth Ambitions
The new capital will fuel SAPI's growth across international markets, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. The company recently established a financial technology entity in Hanoi, Vietnam, to accelerate its presence there.
SAPI, which stands for Securities Application Programming Interface, represents a growing fintech trend aiming to democratise access to crucial business funding. This latest investment underscores strong market confidence in its unique approach to solving a persistent funding gap.
