Fibus: its business, its mission, its objectives

Eléonore Boccara: Hello, everyone, and welcome to Focus Entreprises, with me today is Thibaut Robet, co-founder of Fibus, a brokerage and digital solutions company in factoring and credit insurance.

Thibaut Robet: Hello Eleonore.

E: In this program, we are going to talk about factoring, a concept that is sometimes misunderstood but nevertheless very useful, especially for companies working in B2B. Could you remind us exactly what it is?

T: Factoring is a financing technique that allows companies to compensate for the payment period they grant to their customers.

E: It’s usually 60 days.

T: It’s around 60 days. When you work in BtoB, you have 60 days of sales out at all times. Imagine having two months of salary permanently waiting to be paid by your employer. Factoring makes it possible to compensate for this and to give the company a little flexibility in its cash flow.

E: It surely allows you to breathe and to not live constantly under the gun. With your partner Gaëtan du Halgouët, you created Chateaudun Crédit in 2006. Then, in particular with, your internationalisation in 2022, you renamed yourself Fibus. What is your mission? You have three activities, I believe.

T: We do have three activities. The first is Fibus Factoring, with factoring consulting: we help companies to implement factoring in the best possible way. The next one Fibus Trade, which allows us to cover customer risk. We help companies find an insurance company that will help protect themselves against customer default. And finally, Fibus Digital which offers solutions to orchestrate all that, to make sure that the exchanges, the interface are established with these two service providers – both the factoring companies and the credit insurance companies.

E: What is your added value compared to a bank?

T: In fact, the bank provides the financing. So, we help the company choose the solution it needs to put in place and we help it to choose the bank that will finance it.

E: So you work hand in hand?

T: We do. We are there to help the company organise its relationship with the factoring company.

E: And what are the advantages of factoring?

T: I see two that are worth highlighting. The first is robustness. Factoring is a financing solution that can withstand crises, whether they are crises that the company itself may have to go through or an economic situation such as the one we are currently experiencing.

E: It is particularly relevant in a period such as the current one where there is a lot of uncertainty and a lack of visibility. It allows us to adapt to these situations.

T: Exactly. And then I would see a second advantage to factoring, and not the least, its price. In fact, it’s the cheapest cash flow financing solution available to a company today, which is something that’s not so well known in the market.

E: But it is good to know.

T: Yes, it's good to know.

E: And who is it aimed at?

T: It’s for companies that are focused on growth, that are focused on the international market. One out of two small and medium-sized companies in France uses factoring. It’s a solution that is becoming more democratic, particularly thanks to digitalisation.

E: Let’s talk about your latest IT solution, ARI Trade.

T: It’s our software that allows companies to automate their interface with factoring companies and credit insurance companies, allowing the company to spend as little time as possible in managing its factoring contract.

E: Your customers account for nearly 10% of factoring in France, i.e., 41 billion euros that will pass through Fibus in 2022. What comes next?

T: The next step, of course, is to support more and more companies to make it easier for them to use factoring, in particular by developing new digital solutions to enable them to communicate better with factoring companies and credit insurance companies. The next step is also to pursue internationalisation, particularly in Great Britain and Germany.

E: Well, you have great projects and great prospects ahead of you. -Thank you, Thibaut Robet, for coming to talk to us about Fibus on the set of Focus Enterprises.

T: Thank you, Eleonore!