The financial structuring of startups is transformed according to the maturity of markets and investment cycles. Startups have long favored significant venture capital lifting, involving hypercroissance at the expense of their profitability. The slowdown in the market since 2022 has changed the situation. The debt, yesterday perceived as an inaccessible tool, becomes a lever privileged by the actors capable of demonstrating a rapid traction and a model close to the break-even.
Hybrid montages, combining capital and debt, are multiplying, particularly in fintech, where they constitute both a strategic choice and a signal addressed to investors.
The example of Greenway, a Parisian startup specializing in professional cards, illustrates this development, finalized funding of 32 million euros, of which only 2 million in equity provided by Socadif Capital Investissement, a subsidiary of Crédit Agricole d’Ile-de-France, and by several Business Angels including Étienne Portais (ex Maddyness) and Philippe Englebert (Lazard, and ex advisor of Emmanuel Macron). The remaining 30 million come from a pool of institutional investors in the form of a debt.
Founded at the end of 2023 by Pierre-Yves Roizot, former CEO of Mooncard, and Alexandre Smadja, ex Chief Banking Officer from the same company, Greenway launched in February 2025 a professional card known as all in one. This unique map includes on a single medium of uses so far exploded between restaurant titles, mobility, corporate, trips or gift cards. Where Swile focuses on the salaried advantages and where Qonto targets SMEs with an integrated banking offer, Greenway offers a transversal solution thought for financial directions and human resources, allowing them to rationalize the administration of expenses and access a consolidated and real -time vision of flows, also integrating their CSR impact.
In six months, the company claims tens of thousands of employees equipped with its customers and plans to reach an IRO of 6 million euros by the end of the year, with a profitability target at the end of 2025.
Greenway, incubated by Platform 58 (La Banque Postale), is already based on a portfolio of customers including SNCF, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Grand Est regions, or several departmental fire and rescue services. By integrating a philanthropic mechanism, the 1%FORALL, which converts each expense into a donation for a foundation backed by the company, the company adds a CSR dimension which strengthens the attractiveness of its offer in a context where extra-financial reporting becomes a key issue for large organizations.
