London, UK – SAPI, the fintech start-up seeking to transform the small business lending landscape, has closed a £7.5 million equity fundraising round.

SAPI – which stands for ‘Securities API’ – enables payment companies to offer business loans and other financing products to their clients, earning a revenue share while growing their payment ecosystem. The new capital will be deployed to onboard new strategic partners, improve the product offerings, and scale the company’s presence in Europe.

Co-founder and CEO Mai Le said, “Our mission is to drive the growth of small businesses. We help payment companies build stronger ties with their client base and establish win-win relationships.”

After several years in stealth mode, SAPI has emerged as one of London’s fintech sector’s best-kept secrets, with a number of prominent partnerships currently being kept under NDA, sources close to the company said.

Robert Dighero, co-founder and partner at Passion Capital, who backed the company for the third time, remarked, “SAPI has emerged as a key player in empowering small businesses — a sector that the pandemic highlighted as the backbone of our economy. We see SAPI evolving into an essential part of the UK and European financing ecosystem.”

“Supporting the true local heroes of the UK economy has been an incredibly humbling journey for us. With this latest round of funding, we’re excited to broaden our support to small businesses across Europe,” co-founder Alexis van Lennep added.

Other high-profile backers include Tom Blomfield, founder of Monzo and GoCardless; Martin Kissinger, founder of Lendable; Luca Martinetti, co-founder and CTO of TrueLayer;  Raffaele Terrone, co-founder of Scalapay; Lopo Champalimaud, founder of Treatwell; Oscar Pierre, founder of Glovo; Niccolò Maisto and Michele Attisani, co-founders of FACEIT;  and Will Neale, founder of Fonix Mobile and Grabyo.

Sources have also indicated that the £7.5 million funding round was put together entirely by existing shareholders, all of whom have reinvested for the third time at an increased valuation.

Lendable founder Martin Kissinger stated, “I invested in SAPI because of their exceptional founding team. They have strong technical expertise and are genuinely innovating in the embedded finance sector, providing much-needed financing for business owners. I believe in their vision and am excited to be part of their journey.”

SAPI’s considerable equity fundraising represents a bright start to 2024 for the fintech sector, which last year suffered its lowest level of venture funding in six years – having been the top sector for startup funding globally in 2021 – according to Crunchbase data.