How to Pick Embedded Lending for Marketplaces & SaaS

Who this is for

The founder, COO, or head of fintech at a vertical software company, marketplace, or payments platform that already sees merchant sales (or a consumer checkout) and wants to offer capital inside that workflow. You are picking a distribution partner, not becoming a lender on day one.

This page is not the payments pick and not the banking pick. If the job is taking a card rate, read How to pick payments. If the job is deposit accounts, read How to pick embedded banking. It is also not a ranked table. The lending list is editorial. Order is not a score you can buy.

The decision tree (SMB working capital / MCA-shaped vs bank-originated vs consumer/B2B2C installment)

Three jobs get sold as “embedded lending.” They are not the same product. Name the job before you name a vendor. Embedded is how capital is offered. It is not what is owed.

SMB working capital / MCA-shaped. The merchant gets cash against future sales or receivables. Repayment is often a cut of card receipts or deposits until a purchased amount is collected. Providers commonly document this as a receivables purchase, not a term loan, and they talk in factor rates rather than APR. This directory does not print a factor rate or decide whether that structure is a loan in every state. On this directory that shape includes Pipe (live license posture: merchant cash advance), Liberis (receivables finance), YouLend (white-labeled or co-branded SME working capital; payment institution, not a US bank), and Shopify Capital (invite-based, repaid as a share of daily sales, Shopify merchants only, not a white-label API for someone else’s platform). What you get: capital that rides sales you already see, usually a revenue share or bounty, and a partner who underwrites. What you do not get: a published platform buy rate, a consumer installment product, or a guarantee that the merchant will like the holdback on a slow week.

Bank-originated business credit. A named bank or licensed lender originates a business loan or a licensed credit product. The software company still embeds the offer. The agreement should name the originator. Repayment can still be sales-based. The license shape is the difference: someone is a bank or a licensed lender, not only a receivables purchaser. On this directory that shape includes Parafin (Celtic Bank on the live table; Parafin runs underwriting and the stack), Jaris (named partner bank as loan issuer), Stripe Capital (partner originators; Connect platforms only), Adyen Capital (credit institution; Adyen for Platforms balance platforms only), Kanmon (licensed lender; Kanmon carries credit risk), and OatFi (licensed lender for B2B payables, receivables, or commercial charge-card capital). What you get: a named credit party and a white-label or API offer inside the product. What you do not get: a published rate card on these pages, a self-serve live start on most of them, or a product for consumers at checkout.

Consumer / B2B2C installment. The borrower is a consumer (or a household) at a merchant’s point of sale. The software company or the merchant embeds apply-and-buy. A bank or partner lenders fund. This is not working capital for the merchant’s own business. On this directory that shape is GreenSky (US home improvement; partner-bank installment; GreenSky is not the lender), Acorn Finance (home improvement contractor marketplace of personal-loan offers; free to the contractor; Acorn is not the lender), Synchrony (Synchrony Bank revolving cards and installment at retail, home, auto, and healthcare POS; federally chartered bank), and Bread Pay (Comenity Capital Bank installment and split-pay). What you get: checkout conversion and a merchant or platform fee where the program pays one. What you do not get: SMB working capital, a self-serve live start on the bank programs, or (on most pages) a published merchant fee schedule.

Not this tree. Card acquiring lives on payments. Deposit accounts live on banking. Shopify Capital is not a platform you can embed for non-Shopify merchants. Stripe Capital and Adyen Capital are not portable off those processors. If the job is one of those constraints, do not force a generic “embedded lending” RFP.

There is no public volume number, factor rate, or APR on this directory that tells you which branch to pick. Vendors will quote take rates and holdbacks in a sales room. Those are commercial. This page will not invent them.

Who is the lender is the first honest question. Who is named on the credit agreement or the receivables-purchase contract? Who funds? Who services and collects? You are usually a platform, referrer, or program marketer. Parafin, Kanmon, and OatFi say they run underwriting or carry licensing. GreenSky, Acorn Finance, Stripe Capital, and Shopify Capital put partner banks or partner originators on the table. Synchrony Bank and Comenity Capital Bank (Bread Pay) are the banks. If marketing puts your logo on the offer and the contract names someone else, your customers may still think you are the bank. Confirm the name on the paper and on the screen.

Brand risk is why this pick is not free money. MCA-shaped holdbacks feel cheap in a pitch and ugly on a slow week. Collections, personal guarantees, and surprise factor math land on your support queue if the offer lives in your product. Consumer installment that is denied or mis-disclosed lands the same way. Ask how servicing looks, what the merchant or consumer sees when they miss a payment, and whether you can turn the offer off without stranding existing balances.

Revenue share is how you take a rate on capital: a bounty per funded offer, a share of factor or interest, or a merchant fee on consumer programs. An application fee on card volume is a different job (read the payments glossary). There is no public take-rate on this table except where a listing already printed a packaging note (Acorn Finance: free for contractors; Synchrony: published eCommerce plans, not a fee for every program). Ask what you earn, whether it survives if you leave, and whether you are paid on origination or on the life of the book.

Time-to-live is a partnership, not a key. Most listings are sales-led. Stripe Capital can start from a Connect platform (self-serve on the live table, still not a published rate card). Shopify Capital is invite-based for eligible Shopify merchants, not a cold apply. Acorn Finance markets a free contractor start. Bank and licensed-lender programs wait on a partnership conversation, KYB, and credit policy. This page does not print a month count.

KYB still sits in front of SMB offers. A lender or MCA provider will not treat a trade name as a borrower. Read Know Your Business. Consumer programs run consumer underwriting, not merchant KYB, as the primary check.

Start here / Skip if

Start with SMB working capital if your users are merchants or SMEs, you already see their sales or payouts, and the offer should live next to those numbers. If the repayment is a cut of sales, read the MCA-shaped cluster (Pipe, Liberis, YouLend) and treat Shopify Capital as Shopify-only, not a platform product. That is a fit check, not a rank.

Start with bank-originated business credit if you need a named bank or licensed lender on the agreement, you want white-label working capital for platform merchants, and you will take a partnership conversation. Read Parafin, Kanmon, and Jaris. If the merchants already live on Stripe Connect or Adyen for Platforms, read Stripe Capital or Adyen Capital before you add a second capital vendor. If the job is B2B payables or receivables (not a generic merchant advance), read OatFi.

Start with consumer / B2B2C installment if the borrower is the merchant’s customer at checkout, especially US home improvement, retail, auto, or healthcare. Read GreenSky and Acorn Finance for home improvement, Synchrony and Bread Pay for broader retail POS. Do not use these listings to fund the merchant’s own payroll.

Do not start by becoming the lender. Skip that job if you cannot name a license, a balance sheet, or a servicing shop. Skip a published APR or factor rate this directory will not invent. Skip consumer checkout listings if you need SMB working capital, and skip SMB listings if you need point-of-sale installment. Skip Shopify Capital if you are not Shopify. Skip Stripe Capital or Adyen Capital if those are not your processor.

Live lending peers. Editorial fit only. Not a rank, not a buy order.

Parafin: White-labeled merchant working capital. Parafin runs underwriting and the stack. Celtic Bank on the live table.
YouLend: White-labeled or co-branded SME working capital for platforms and payment providers. Not consumer installment.
Pipe: Embedded SME working capital. Live license posture is merchant cash advance.
Liberis: Embedded SME working capital. Live table: receivables finance.
Stripe Capital: Working capital for Connect merchants. Partner originators. Not a generic capital API.
Kanmon: API-embedded SMB working capital. Kanmon carries credit risk and licensing.
GreenSky: US home improvement consumer installment via partner banks. GreenSky is not the lender.
Synchrony: Synchrony Bank cards and installment at merchant POS. Federally chartered bank.

Embedded lending: The distribution model. Inside software, not a standalone lender site.
Merchant cash advance: One product shape (sales-based holdback / receivables purchase). Not a synonym for embedded lending.
Know Your Business: Entity checks a business-capital program will still require.

FAQ

Does embedding lending make my company the lender?

Usually no. The named bank, licensed lender, or receivables purchaser funds and services. You are a platform or referrer unless the contract says you originate. Confirm the name on the credit agreement and on the customer-facing offer. If your logo is the only name the merchant sees, you still inherited the brand.

Is a merchant cash advance the same as embedded lending?

No. Embedded lending is the channel. An MCA is one capital product that can ride that channel. Bank loans and consumer installment plans can be embedded too. Pick the listing for the product and the license, not for the word embed.

We already process payments. Should we just turn on that processor’s capital product?

If the merchants are already connected accounts on that processor, it is the shortest path to an offer (Stripe Capital on Connect, Adyen Capital on Adyen for Platforms, Shopify Capital inside Shopify admin). It is not portable. If you might change processors, or you need a white-label program you take to another stack, read the standalone platform listings instead.

How much do we earn, and what does the merchant pay?

This directory does not publish a take-rate, a factor rate, or an APR for these programs. Acorn Finance prints free-for-contractor packaging. Synchrony publishes some eCommerce plan fees, not a fee for every program. Everything else is an order form. Ask what you earn (bounty vs share of the book), what the merchant or consumer pays, and how repayment moves when sales drop. Do not invent APR math from a factor rate on this page.

Do we need KYB if the partner underwrites?

For SMB capital, yes, someone still verifies the legal entity. The lender or MCA provider sets the policy. You can collect the data and still not be the credit decision. For consumer installment, the primary check is consumer underwriting, not merchant KYB. Read the listing for who decides.

How to pick embedded lending for marketplaces and SaaS