Wirecard, a supplier of digital payment solutions and internet technology, will support the Berlin-based FinTech Billie in the digitisation of its payment processes. Billie will offer SMEs and freelancers the opportunity to pre-finance their invoices by purchasing all liabilities from third parties and settling the outstanding amount.

The German factoring market is currently undergoing a revolution. According to the German Factoring Association, its members' sales rose by 3.77% in 2016 to total a current level of 216.8 billion Euro. For many SMEs, factoring is an increasingly attractive funding alternative in comparison to lending.

Thorsten Holten, Executive Vice President Sales Financial Institution and FinTech Europe at Wirecard: "We are delighted to have gained another FinTech company in the form of Billie and support promising, innovative start-ups which may benefit not only from our experience in the field of FinTechs, but also from our technical solutions for payment processing and digitisation of processes. In addition to all this, our clients can take advantage of our banking licence when needed."

Christian Grobe, Founder of Billie: "The special thing about Billie is that it is less complicated than conventional factoring. In just a few clicks, Billie clients can receive a monthly funding framework of up to 200,000 Euro via a traditional factoring contract but without any long-term binding commitment. Outstanding invoices can be easily uploaded with the result that the invoice amount is paid out in full immediately." He added, "There are practically no companies below the 10 Euro million sales mark in Germany which use factoring to a significant extent as a form of funding. This means that the market potential is very high and we are seeing a veritable boom in Germany at the moment. We are looking forward to unlocking this potential together with Wirecard."