An Interview with Brian Reaves, Founder and CEO of Factris Factris is a pioneering financial technology company that has been transforming the landscape of invoice financing. What is the inspiration behind Factris, and what do you think sets it apart from other invoice financing platforms in the market? Like all great innovations, Factris was born out of necessity. We recognized the need to provide a better way to finance SMEs. Previously, accessing financing options for SMEs was complicated, expensive, and timeconsuming. So in 2017, we decided to rethink how SMEs receive working capital by directly financing invoices via ‘factoring’– a tried-and-true form of financing, but with a new-age twist. Thanks to the use of our tech tools with factoring, we made financing faster, more readily available, and easier for SMEs to access. This new way to finance SMEs was further improved by providing personalized help along the way in order to harness the power of technology while still maintaining a personal touch. However, this product was only the beginning for us, as we’ll soon embark on product expansion. Can you walk us through your vision for the future of Factris, and how do you plan on achieving this in the coming years? Having honed our recipe for SME financing success in select EU markets over the past six years, we’re now in the process of a pan-European expansion in the coming years as we become a licensed financial services provider. This progress will continue to be possible thanks to strategic funding partnerships from origination and institutional investors who can provide capital at the best cost, allowing us to expand our lending products while growing our profit margins. What challenges have you faced while growing Factris, and how have you overcome them? If you had told us everything we would face when we started back in 2017, I’m not sure we would have had the courage to begin. Yet, in just six years, we have already successfully weathered the economic fallout of a global pandemic, war, Brexit, trade wars, sanctions, record inflation, and rapid interest rate hikes. That Factris continues to grow despite these challenges is a testament to how well our products fit the SME financing market–as opposed to banks, who pull out during a recession. How do you see the invoice financing industry evolving in the next 5-10 years, and how do you plan to stay ahead of the curve to ensure Factris remains competitive and relevant? The true source of our success hasn’t been just invoice financing. Instead, the source of our success always has been–and always will be–our role as partners for SMEs. It’s what gave Factris our initial financing edge via tech-powered factoring six years ago, and it’s what will continue to help us as we plan to grow as a source of financing for SMEs. This unflinching attention to the financing needs of SMEs will also guide our ongoing innovation since the process will always remain the same: • Address SMEs’ pain points. • Understand what they need. • Use those insights to develop new products and services that help SMEs succeed. We are already a leader in the SME lending space and will further leverage this position to attack other parts of the SME value chain. Finance Monthly FinTech Awards 2023. Netherlands 5
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