Viceversa

Viceversa operates a growth platform delivering revenue-based financing and data-driven marketing insights to European digital businesses. It provides equity-free capital, enabling companies to scale efficiently based on their revenue streams. This approach combines financial liquidity with actionable intelligence, fostering sustainable development.

Matteo Masserdotti and Pedro Salvi co-founded Viceversa in November 2021, headquartered in Milan, Italy. They recognized a clear market need among digital companies for flexible funding solutions that avoid equity dilution. Masserdotti, leveraging entrepreneurial experience, alongside Salvi, developed this model for capital and growth analytics.

The platform serves European digital businesses seeking non-dilutive financing to accelerate growth. Viceversa's mission is to promote ethical and sustainable expansion, offering a modern alternative to conventional funding structures. The company aims to redefine how digital enterprises access capital and utilize data for long-term objectives.

High-Level Overview

Viceversa is a Milan-based fintech startup founded in 2021 that provides revenue-based financing (RBF) and data-driven marketing insights to digital businesses, enabling equity-free capital for growth without dilution or personal guarantees.[1][2][4][6] It serves SaaS, e-commerce, subscription-based companies, and marketplaces across Europe, offering fast funding (within 3 days for offers, up to 2 weeks for disbursement) tied to a percentage of future revenues, alongside an analytics platform (PULSE) that integrates with channels like Amazon, Meta, and Stripe for KPI monitoring and AI-powered forecasts.[1][2][5][6] With over €37.56M raised, a portfolio exceeding €25M in under two years, operations in 6+ countries, and client growth rates over 150-160% YoY, Viceversa has achieved rapid traction, including a €10M round in 2023 for international expansion and embedded finance solutions.[1][2][4]

Origin Story

Viceversa was launched in November 2021 by Matteo Masserdotti, a serial entrepreneur with expertise in marketing, fintech, and crowd-investing (prior founder of Two Hundred, Italy's leading crowd-investing platform), who envisioned data-driven funding to support sustainable growth for digital businesses amid traditional finance's limitations.[2][3][4] Pedro, a former VC and investment banker, joined early to co-build the company, forming a team of 30+ "rockstars" from finance, data science, software engineering, marketing, and risk management across Milan and Dublin offices.[2][4] Key early milestones include a €23M seed round in November 2021, first 10 customers by January 2022, data-driven model launch in May 2022, €20M+ portfolio by October 2022, and Growth Platform v1 in December 2022, marking pivotal traction in Italy before expanding to Germany, Austria, Ireland, Switzerland, and the UK.[2][4]

Core Differentiators

• Revenue-Based Financing Model: Provides flexible, non-dilutive capital repaid as a sales percentage, using proprietary AI/ML algorithms for data-driven revenue forecasts from internal/external sources, with approvals in 3 days and funds in ≤2 weeks—no equity loss or guarantees needed.[1][2][3][5][6]
• Integrated Analytics Platform (PULSE): Connects sales/marketing channels for real-time KPI tracking, performance forecasts, and spending optimization, helping clients boost efficiency (e.g., higher conversions, scaled ads, R&D focus).[2][4][6]
• Embedded Finance Solutions: White-label tools for e-commerce/marketplace leaders to offer financing to their customers, creating win-win revenue growth without building in-house tech.[2][3]
• Speed and Accessibility: Democratizes advanced tools for SMEs/mom-and-pop shops, with seamless integrations, ethical transparency, and proven impact (150%+ client growth, €25M+ portfolio).[1][2][6]

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Viceversa rides the rising wave of revenue-based financing in Europe, addressing SMEs' funding gaps amid high interest rates, equity dilution pressures, and venture capital slowdowns post-2022, where traditional loans demand guarantees and banks lag digital speed.[1][2][3] Timing is ideal as e-commerce/SaaS booms (accelerated by post-pandemic shifts), with market forces like embedded finance and AI analytics favoring data-native models—Viceversa processes massive datasets for precise risk assessment, enabling faster, fairer capital access across fragmented EU markets.[2][4][6] It influences the ecosystem by empowering platforms (e.g., marketplaces) to retain customers via integrated funding, fostering sustainable growth for 1000s of digital firms and challenging incumbents like Clearco or Levenue with localized, tech-forward expansion.[1][3]

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Viceversa is poised for accelerated pan-European (and potentially global) scaling via embedded finance, leveraging its €37M+ war chest, AI edge, and 160%+ portfolio growth to capture more of the underserved SME financing market amid ongoing capital scarcity.[1][2] Trends like AI-driven fintech, e-commerce resilience, and regulatory tailwinds for non-bank lending will propel it, with white-label solutions positioning it as a B2B2C powerhouse for marketplaces. Its influence may evolve from Italy's RBF pioneer to a revamped investment landscape shaper, boosting ethical growth for digital natives—echoing Masserdotti's vision of transparency over hype, much like its origin in fintech disruption.[2][3][4]