DECTA has partnered with SAPI to launch DECTA Capital, a financing product for small and medium-sized businesses in the UK, announced on 23 September. Merchants can access growth capital without collateral or credit score requirements and repay it as a pre-agreed percentage of their card sales, so repayments move with their actual transaction volume. Offers are typically available within 24 hours. SAPI handles underwriting, servicing and compliance, while DECTA offers the product as part of its existing payment experience.
Who is DECTA?
As a payment company DECTA is not a non-financial brand, and thus, the partnership is not fully embedded finance. That said, I have covered several payment providers launching lending, because it is a step away from their core business and because the lenders behind them are often relevant players in embedded finance. But let's start with DECTA. The Latvia-headquartered company serves merchants, fintech companies and banks, and covers both sides of the card business: payment acquiring and a white-label payment gateway on one side, BIN sponsorship, issuer processing and white-label card issuing on the other. So DECTA is a PSP in its own right and also powers other payment businesses. The company holds e-money licences in the UK, Cyprus and Ireland. According to DECTA, more than 2,000 PSPs, banks, merchants and partners use its technology, processing close to €1bn in transactions a year.
So who is SAPI?
SAPI might not be a name many readers know, but I have followed them for some time. It is a London fintech founded by Mai Le, previously at Goldman Sachs, and Alexis van Lennep, previously at AlixPartners. It spent several years in stealth before raising £7.5m in equity in March 2024, with angels including Tom Blomfield, TrueLayer's Luca Martinetti and Glovo's Oscar Pierre. In November 2025 it raised $80m, of which $75m was debt led by Hudson Cove Capital Management.
Financing offline merchants through their PSPs
So how does SAPI position itself? It is a lending enabler that works mostly with payment companies: SAPI provides the capital, underwriting and technology, while the PSP owns the merchant relationship and puts the offer in front of its merchants. I spoke to the team a few years ago, and if my memory serves me well, the vision was to serve offline businesses, with cab owners and hairdressers among the merchants they had in mind. The way to reach them was through the PSPs those businesses already use, which also suits the product, as repaying through a share of card sales only works when the lender is plugged into the PSP's flow of funds.
Today, SAPI names Paynt, PaymentSave, KodyPay, emerchantpay and Acquired as partners, mostly mid-sized UK payment companies. Merchants can also apply directly: UK limited companies can request a merchant cash advance of up to £200,000 through SAPI's own website. According to SAPI, it has advanced more than £50m to small businesses across the UK, EU and US, with 90% going to immigrant- or woman-owned businesses. Beyond lending, it sells instant payouts and settlement pre-funding to payment companies, which might give it a relationship with a PSP that goes beyond the loan itself.
