Unifiedpost and Munich Re Partner on Invoice Financing in Europe

Unifiedpost and Munich Re have teamed up to provide invoice financing in Europe.

The new strategic partnership will bring together Belgium-based Unifiedpost’s eInvoicing technology and customer base with Munich Re’s insurance expertise and financial capacity, the companies said in a Wednesday (Jan. 25) press release.

The invoice financing is to be launched in Germany in the second quarter and later expanded to other countries in which Unifiedpost’s small and medium-sized business (SMB) platform called Banqup is used. Munich Re will act through Talaria One DAC, according to the press release.

“This kind of invoice-to-cash solutions are often not accessible for [SMBs], however the latter do experience working capital constraints even more than mid and large enterprises,” Unifiedpost CEO and Founder Hans Laybaert said in the release. “We are proud to close this partnership with Talaria One DAC. Our strengths and common values complement each other and form the basis for a successful cooperation.”

Historically, the lengthy payment terms typical of some of the largest corporations have created a barrier for small suppliers to work with what could be lucrative and long-term corporate customers with big contracts to offer, Hydr Co-Founder Hector Macandrew told PYMNTS in an interview posted in May 2021.

By using invoice financing solutions to fill in cash flow gaps for invoices with a very low risk of nonpayment, those small businesses can take advantage of valuable clients without worrying about the cash flow gaps that might result, Macandrew said at the time.

In factoring, SMBs get money instantly on unpaid invoices instead of having to wait a month or longer for the invoice to be settled, small business working capital startup Factris said last June when announcing it had secured €10 million in funding and was working with SMBs in five countries in the European Union.

With the new collaboration of Unifiedpost and Munich Re, SMBs will be able to unlock liquidity and gain protection against unpaid invoices by getting their outstanding invoices paid immediately, according to the press release.

By embedding Munich Re’s invoice-to-cash solution into Unifiedpost’s platform used by SMBs across Europe, the solution will be more readily available, Munich Re Head of Embedded Trade Finance Solutions Andreas Moser said in the release.

“Considering these challenging times, small and medium-sized businesses currently demand for flexible financing solutions and financial security,” Moser said.