Fintech 100 Pick Wayflyer Wants Working Capital to Be Always-On
For most small businesses, getting working capital still runs on the same loop: pull the statements, fill out the application, wait for a decision, and start over when the money runs out.
Wayflyer is trying to break that loop. The Dublin-based company, which launched in 2020 and has its U.S. headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, spent 2026 rolling out a funding account that stays open in the background, lining up a forward flow arrangement with Fortress Investment Group worth up to $1.5 billion, and pushing its underwriting past the online consumer brands it was built to serve.
A year after the Charlotte hub opened, Lewis Jones, Wayflyer's Director of Communications, spoke with Funder Intel about where the business stands and where it goes next.
A ranking built on performance
In late October, CB Insights named Wayflyer to its 2026 Fintech 100, its ninth annual list of the most promising fintech startups, where it is one of five companies in the business lending category. CB Insights' analysts picked the 100 from more than 70,000 private fintechs between pre-seed and Series C, weighing deal activity, partnerships, investor strength, hiring momentum, revenue, and the firm's own predictive scores.
"We're immensely proud to be recognized as a leader in the Fintech 100 for 2026," Jones said. "CB Insights looks at how companies perform, so it's a good check on the work our team does every day."
Jones tied the recognition back to the customer. "Our customers need cash to buy inventory, fund marketing, invest in talent and grow without giving up ownership. This recognition belongs to the people who build and run the products for them, and it pushes us to keep raising the bar in terms of the speed and flexibility of our capital offerings."
The U.S. is now the biggest market
Wayflyer announced the Charlotte hub in October 2025 as its U.S. headquarters, with plans for roughly 20 roles across sales, customer success and underwriting. A year on, Jones said the office has doubled in size.
The U.S. is also where much of the money goes. According to Jones, American businesses now make up close to half of Wayflyer's lending book, and the company has passed $4 billion deployed to U.S. small businesses since its first American deal in 2020. Across all of its markets, Wayflyer's website puts total capital deployed above $7 billion, to more than 7,000 businesses.
"Being on the ground matters in a business like ours," Jones said, "and having a team in the same time zone as our customers means we can get to know them, respond to them and move at the pace they need."
The calendar is helping. Jones said demand from consumer brands remains strong heading into the holidays, with many expecting another big run through Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the holiday sales.
Past the online store
Wayflyer made its name funding eCommerce brands, and in October 2025 it said it would take its model to other kinds of small and midsize businesses. Over the past year, Jones said, that has meant categories like food and beverage, personal care and omnichannel retail, and it "has felt like pushing on an open door."
"There is a huge population of good businesses out there that banks have stepped away from, and they want capital that moves as fast as they do”, Lewis Jones, Wayflyer.
For anyone who places or funds deals in this market, that line describes the whole opportunity. Wayflyer goes after the same merchants that bank credit boxes leave behind, with cash advances and term loans from $10,000 to $20 million that can be repaid in fixed amounts or as a percentage of sales, according to its site.
Funding that stays on
The product change worth watching is always-on funding. Wayflyer CEO Aidan Corbett introduced it in late July as a funding account that keeps a line of working capital available for when a business needs it.
"Customers connect once, our underwriting models review their performance in the background, and funding can reach their account as soon as the next day, with no new application each time," Jones said. "The amount available adjusts with the performance of the business."
According to Wayflyer, cash advances and term loans taken through the account keep the same terms as before, and the account is rolling out first to eCommerce customers in the U.S., U.K., Ireland and Australia.
For funders, that is a different take on the renewal. Instead of a new application and a new pitch every time a merchant pays down, the underwriting keeps running and the next offer is already sized. It also puts a premium on connected data, since the model depends on businesses keeping their accounts linked so performance can be reviewed in the background.
Capital to keep deploying
Faster underwriting only matters with capital behind it. In July, we covered the reporting from Bloomberg that Fortress had agreed to buy up to $1.5 billion of loans originated by Wayflyer under a three-year forward flow arrangement. That came after a $250 million credit facility in February.
Jones said the Fortress arrangement "allows us to keep deploying working capital to thousands more businesses."
The next 12 months for Wayflyer
Jones was direct about the priority. "Over the next 12 months, our main priority is bringing that funding to businesses beyond eCommerce. Always-on funding is starting with our eCommerce customers, and extending it to more types of business is a big part of how we'll help more of them grow to their full potential."
Put together, the plan is a test of whether continuous, data-driven underwriting can travel beyond the category it was built for. The bet is that a food brand or a personal care company wants the same thing an online store does: capital that is ready when the moment comes, without giving up ownership to get it.