The best UK alternatives to Stripe Capital for supplier invoice financing

Businesses often turn to Stripe Capital for quick access to working capital. But when the goal is to fund supplier invoices, its structure does not always fit.

Stripe Capital provides revenue-based financing for eligible Stripe users. Repayments are taken automatically as a percentage of daily Stripe sales. But sales-linked repayments rarely map neatly to supplier payment cycles or net 30–90 terms.

This is because supplier invoice financing requires predictability. You need to:

Match funding to individual invoices
Support long-tail suppliers, not only those with high sales volume
Avoid tying repayments to unpredictable revenue patterns

If your revenue is lumpy or only partly processed via Stripe, repayment timing may not align with supplier payments. And because Stripe Capital does not underwrite invoice payers, it cannot easily scale to broad supplier populations.

This leads many businesses to look for invoice-led solutions, such as Aria.

Aria: An embedded approach to supplier invoice financing

Aria is one option used by B2B platforms that want embedded invoice financing tied directly to their workflows. Aria focuses on financing invoices, not sales, and on assessing the debtor rather than the supplier.

How Aria’s model works

1. Underwriting the invoice payer, not the supplier

Instead of evaluating the supplier’s credit profile, Aria focuses on the corporate buyer responsible for paying the invoice.

This can help finance long-tail suppliers who would not qualify through traditional factoring.

2. Embedded, API-driven integration

Aria integrates directly into your existing platform via a REST API. Financing is triggered automatically, based on the invoice data you already generate as part of your normal workflow.

There’s no need for separate onboarding journeys or lengthy credit applications. The only required input is the invoice itself – including the buyer, supplier, amount, and due date. Once submitted via API, a financing decision is returned in real time.

3. Automated operational layers

Aria’s platform encompasses capabilities that usually require multiple providers:

Cross-border payment flows in 100+ countries
Automated reconciliation and dedicated IBANs
Risk checks, including debtor solvency, KYC/KYB, fraud detection, and invoice validation
Instant decisions on the majority of invoices
Coverage for non-payment
Handling of disputes and collections

The goal is to embed payment logic directly into the core product or ERP so that money moves as a natural extension of your existing workflow. When an invoice is issued, approved, or matched, the corresponding payment action is triggered automatically. When funds move, reconciliation updates in real time. And when terms are extended or financing is applied, it happens within the same system.

4. Designed for platforms with a high number of small invoices

Aria is built for environments where invoice volume is high, amounts are often granular, and manual handling simply doesn’t scale.

Traditional financing solutions tend to focus on large-ticket invoices and established counterparties. They also rely on batch processing, manual reviews, and minimum volume thresholds. That model breaks down when you’re managing hundreds (or thousands) of smaller invoices every day.

Aria typically works with:

B2B marketplaces
Staffing and talent platforms
Vertical SaaS and ERP systems
Corporate treasury platforms

“In our workshops with clients, we try to understand if all workflows are optimal and if the solution is a match for our clients’ needs and their current processes.” – Laura Ghedi, Implementation Specialist at Aria

What to consider when comparing UK alternatives to Stripe Capital

When evaluating invoice financing solutions, ask the following questions:

Does the product finance invoices or revenue?

Some providers offer revenue-based advances (such as an advance repaid as a percentage of future sales). That can work well for businesses with predictable card or recurring revenue, but it isn’t designed around the reality of B2B payment terms.

Invoice financing is tied to a specific invoice and its due date. That means it maps directly to how suppliers and buyers operate: a supplier issues an invoice, a buyer pays on regular 30-60-90 terms, and a supplier needs to gain earlier access to cash.

So, if your core problem is that suppliers need to be paid earlier, invoice financing is usually a better fit than revenue advances.

Who is assessed for risk?

Underwriting can be based on the supplier (the business requesting early payment) or the debtor (the buyer who will ultimately pay the invoice).

Supplier-led underwriting often looks at the supplier’s balance sheet, trading history, and credit profile. The downside is that small suppliers, freelancers, or newer businesses may be declined even if the invoice payer is a large, low-risk corporate.
Debtor-led underwriting focuses more on the entity that will pay at due date. This can expand eligibility in platforms where many small suppliers invoice a smaller number of larger, reliable buyers.

This is especially important for marketplaces or talent platforms: you don’t want your “long tail” of suppliers excluded purely because they’re small.

How automated is the workflow?

The financing workflow touches a lot of moving parts, which should ideally be automated:

Invoice creation and validation
Verification that the work or product was delivered (or milestone met)
Fraud and duplicate-invoice checks
Collections
Reconciliation (matching repayments back to invoices and transactions)
Dispute handling and exception management

If too much of this requires manual review, it becomes expensive and hard to scale, especially when invoice sizes are small and volumes are high.

Can the solution be embedded where invoices live?

If suppliers or users have to leave the platform, upload invoices elsewhere, or run a separate application process, usage tends to drop. Embedded financing (offered inside your invoicing, ERP, or marketplace flow) reduces friction because it appears at the moment a user is already thinking about payment (issuing an invoice, approving it, or getting paid).

How transparent is the fee structure?

“Cost” in financing products can hide in multiple places, so it’s worth breaking it down:

Transaction fees (payment processing, payout fees, platform/usage fees)
Financing fees (discount rate, interest-like fees, late fees, minimum fees)
Operational costs (time spent by your team managing exceptions, disputes, reconciliation)

It’s also worth checking who pays in your model:

Some setups let the supplier pay for early payment
Others let the buyer pay for extended terms
Some platforms absorb the cost as a retention lever, or pass it through as part of a service fee

A clear pricing model should make it easier to predict your suppliers’ and your own cash flow.

How Aria compares to BNPL, revenue-based financing, and traditional factoring

Revenue-based financing ties repayment to sales volume, not invoice terms.
BNPL for B2B typically involves redirecting buyers to separate applications or portals.
Traditional factoring often rejects the majority of invoices due to manual processes or supplier-led risk assessments.

Aria, on the other hand, is embedded within your platform itself, with underwriting designed for long-tail suppliers and automated processes.

Final thoughts

Stripe Capital can be effective for businesses that need short-term, general-purpose funding linked to their Stripe revenue. But supplier invoice financing requires funding linked to the invoice itself, predictable access to cash for suppliers, and underwriting aligned to buyer creditworthiness.

Invoice-driven models, including embedded solutions such as Aria, are built to address that need directly. For platforms that manage or generate invoices, these solutions can provide a more scalable and predictable way to support suppliers while maintaining established payment terms.

FAQs

What is the difference between revenue-based financing and invoice financing?

Revenue-based financing advances funds against future sales and repays automatically as revenue flows in. Invoice financing provides funding against specific invoices and aligns repayment with invoice settlement.

Can invoice financing work for long-tail suppliers?

Yes. Debtor-led underwriting and automated checks offered by providers like Aria make it possible to support many smaller suppliers, even if they lack a strong credit history.