Embedded Finance Review Podcast, episode 43. Published 5 March 2026. Guest: Matteo Benedetti, co-founder and CEO of Debtist. Host: Lars Markull.
Lars Markull: Most platforms building embedded finance start with payments. Lending often comes next. But what happens when invoices don't get paid is often the last thing on the roadmap. However, for many SMEs it's one of the most painful experiences.
In this episode I'm speaking with Matteo Benedetti, co-founder and CEO of Debtist, a digital debt collection provider based in Berlin. Debtist embeds collection directly into vertical software platforms and marketplaces, so that SMEs can recover unpaid invoices without ever leaving the tool they're already using. In just over two years Debtist has built close to a dozen embedded partnerships, reached 12 million euros ARR and, unusually for an early stage fintech, is already profitable.
We talk about how embedded collection actually works, why platforms are starting to come to them instead of the other way around, and what it takes to build a profitable fintech from the beginning.
I'm Lars Markull and you are listening to the Embedded Finance Review Podcast. Embedded Finance Review is a newsletter, podcast and event series covering the European embedded finance ecosystem. And we have some exciting news. Our next in-person event is on April 15th in Berlin. It's an official side event of FIBE, the fintech Berlin conference. If you want to meet the people building and enabling embedded finance in Europe, you will find the link in the show notes. And if you are a non-financial brand or infrastructure provider exploring embedded finance and want a free intro call to get feedback on your approach and introductions to potential providers or customers, reach out to me via embeddedfinancereview.com. And now let's dive in.
Welcome
Lars Markull: Hi Matteo, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing today, and in what part of the world are you actually located right now?
Matteo Benedetti: Amazing. I couldn't be doing better. Thanks for having me, Lars. Actually I'm currently in Bangkok. Normally in winter time I try to escape Europe, so it's warmer, but also a bit later.
Lars Markull: Great. We just spoke about escaping the weather here in Germany, especially this year with the harsh temperatures, that was definitely a good call.
Where does debt collection sit?
Lars Markull: But it's great to chat about Debtist and obviously the whole business, the industry you're in, digital debt collection. This is of course also an embedded finance podcast, and typically we split embedded finance into payments, banking, lending, insurance and investment. And I'm quite keen, debt collection is obviously not its own part. Where would you see the position of digital debt collection in the embedded finance ecosystem?
Matteo Benedetti: Interesting question. If you listen to the influencers, they normally put us under banking. So if you see the logos split into different categories, we are under banking, and I would agree with them. It makes a lot of sense, given we're just a prolonged arm. So if a payment is delinquent, we come in. So I would put us under banking. But some could also argue it's payments. So payments first, banking second, depending on the portfolio, I guess. But payment also sounds a bit nicer.