Candour Finance

European trade receivables, institutionally structured.

A Luxembourg-domiciled credit fund investing in short-duration receivables from vetted European originators. Phase 1 is a conventional SPV building an audited track record. Phase 2 adds on-chain distribution from 2027.

At a glance
VehicleLuxembourg S.A., 2004 Securitisation Law
StrategyShort-duration trade receivables, 30 to 90 day WAL
GeographyUK, Netherlands, Germany, France
Target net6 to 8% to senior LPs
First closeQ2/Q3 2026, €5 to 15M
AuditBig-4, annual
The thesis

The best-performing asset class in credit, mispriced by history.

0.1 to 0.3%

Short-duration trade receivables have delivered the lowest annualised loss rates in structured credit across every cycle since 2008. Lower than investment grade corporates. Lower than direct lending. An order of magnitude lower than high yield.

And yet senior tranches still pay 6 to 8% net, because European banks have retreated from factoring under Basel IV and the institutional market has not yet closed the gap. The yield is a liquidity premium, not a credit premium.

€400B+

The European SME working capital gap, widening as bank warehouse lines shrink and independent factoring companies hit capacity ceilings. Private credit has flooded into direct lending; short-duration receivables remain underserved because they require operational expertise generalist funds do not have.

Candour Finance buys these receivables (30 to 90 day WAL) from vetted originators into a Luxembourg bankruptcy-remote SPV, tranches the pool, and pays senior investors a stable coupon while equity captures the residual.

The approach

Track record first. Tokenisation second.

Every failed private credit vehicle of the last decade (Greensill, Neumann's new ventures, the 2023 DeFi credit casualties) shared the same sin: promising distribution before proving underwriting. Candour Finance reverses the sequence.

Phase 1 operates as a conventional private credit fund for twelve months: Luxembourg SPV, Big-4 audit, monthly independent NAV, institutional LPs. Only once the book has demonstrated performance against its thesis does Phase 2 add on-chain distribution through an ERC-4626 NAV-accruing vault.

The norm

Launch token. Raise capital. Source assets. Hope it works.

Candour Finance

Source assets. Prove the book. Audit. Then tokenise distribution.

The structure

Institutional plumbing, on purpose.

Originators
Vetted European factoring companies

UK, NL, DE, FR. Originate receivables, sell to the SPV at discount, collect on maturity.

The SPV
Luxembourg Receivables S.A.

2004 Securitisation Law. Bankruptcy-remote. Compartmentalised. True sale.

Investors
Senior, mezzanine, equity tranches

Phase 1: conventional LP subscriptions. Phase 2: ERC-4626 vault distribution from 2027.

Risk framework

Designed around every lesson Greensill ignored.

Greensill's collapse was not an asset class failure. It was a governance failure. The safeguards that were missing are hardcoded into our structure.

Asset validityTrue sale only. Invoices verified against signed purchase order and delivery confirmation.
Concentration5% single-obligor cap. 15% single-originator cap. 20% single-sector cap.
InsuranceMulti-insurer panel; A-rated minimum; staggered renewal to avoid cliff exposure.
Liquidity20% first-loss equity buffer. 30-day cash reserve. Quarterly LP redemption with 60-day notice and gates.
GovernanceIndependent directors on the SPV board. Monthly NAV by Big-4 administrator. Annual Big-4 audit.
Key-person riskInvestment decisions ratified by a credit committee, not the founder alone.
Phase 2 · From 2027

On-chain distribution, same underwriting.

Once twelve or more months of audited performance exist, the same underlying strategy is wrapped in an ERC-4626 NAV-accruing vault. No change to the assets. No change to the underwriting. A new distribution rail for stablecoin-native institutional capital.

ERC-4626 vault

NAV-accruing share token. Standard Ethereum vault interface supported by institutional DeFi infrastructure.

Whitelisted access

KYC and AML gated at the smart contract level. Transfers restricted to verified institutional addresses.

MiCA-compliant

Issued under the Luxembourg securitisation regime. Distributed under MiCA to EEA investors.

DeFi distribution

Listed on curated Morpho vaults and Aave Horizon. Institutional stablecoin treasuries as anchor depositors.

Be first in line when Phase 2 launches.

Team

Built by people who have done this before.

Jules Ratcliffe
Founder

Investment banking and structured finance background. Former fintech CFO and treasury lead. Principal investor in Phase 1 alongside LPs: founder capital sits in the first-loss equity tranche.

Institutional partners engaged
Tier-1 Luxembourg fund administratorMagic Circle legal counselBig-4 auditTrade credit insurers

Let's talk.

Candour Finance is raising €5 to 15M for its first close, targeted Q2/Q3 2026. Founder co-invest in first-loss equity alongside LPs.