Executive Summary

Many small and mid-sized merchants who want to sell on instalments struggle with slow, error-prone onboarding, complex credit infrastructure, manual reconciliation and the cashflow mismatch that comes from offering financed purchases; this problem is especially acute for the roughly 30 million retailers and SMBs that already run or want to run instalment plans. They lack turnkey tooling to underwrite customers, collect payments across PSPs and mobile channels, and reconcile merchant payouts without building expensive backend systems. You could build a merchant-first platform that combines a mobile-first onboarding SDK and white‑label portal, a payment orchestration layer with pre-built PSP and POS integrations, an underwriting engine using alternative data, and automated collections and reconciliation dashboards; monetize via a $400 ACV SaaS fee plus optional revenue share or settlement financing. The product would include configurable merchant risk policies, multi-currency settlement rails, and an API for inventory/ERP sync so merchants get same-day onboarding and simplified reporting. This is an attractive moment: the total addressable opportunity is roughly $12.0B today (30M merchants × $400 ACV), BNPL and merchant finance adoption is accelerating, and mature payment APIs significantly lower time-to-market for merchant-facing finance products; mobile-first adoption in emerging markets further expands reachable SMBs. Market indicators (score 88/100, revenue potential 82/100) point to strong demand but also rising expectations for a reliable, fast-to-integrate solution. To stand out you’ll need measurable SLAs (eg, sub-24-hour merchant onboarding), localized underwriting models that reduce default rates, and channel partnerships with PSPs and POS vendors to drive distribution and reduce CAC; offering an optional capital product for faster merchant settlement can be a competitive edge. Be candid about challenges: regulatory fragmentation across jurisdictions, the need for working capital to fund payouts, and credit risk management will require both capital and strong data science to avoid losses in a moderately competitive field.

Market Opportunity

Simplify onboarding and repayments for SMBs selling on installments targets a $12.0B = 30M retailers and SMBs globally that run installment or financing plans × $400 ACV per business total addressable market with medium saturation and a year-over-year growth rate of 12% YoY — combining SMB SaaS and BNPL growth estimates (sources: Statista & World Bank SMB digitization reports).

Key trends driving demand: Trend: Growing BNPL and merchant finance adoption — merchants increasingly want turnkey ways to offer instalments without building credit infrastructure.; Trend: PSPs and payment APIs are maturing — easier integrations reduce time-to-market for merchant-focused finance products.; Trend: Mobile-first adoption in emerging markets — smartphone ubiquity enables merchant apps for onboarding and payment collection.; Trend: AI-driven automation reduces manual collections — predictive reminders and scoring can materially lower delinquency and labor costs..

Key competitors include Razorpay, Mambu, Musoni Systems, Klarna / Afterpay / Affirm.

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Simplify onboarding and repayments for SMBs selling on installments

Executive Summary

Market Validation

Market Opportunity

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