E40: Asset-Based Lending with Marius Silvasan

Private debt is "all the rage" these days, but also beset with some controversy, especially in Canada. Asset-based lending is a form of private debt, and eCapital is a leader in this space. On this episode of The Unlimited Podcast, Marius Silvasan, CEO of eCapital, goes "back to basics" to explain what is asset-based lending, how eCapital mitigates risks typically associated with traditional private debt, and reveals eCapital's secret weapon: its technology focus.

eCapital is a specialty finance company with a focus on providing working capital to small and medium sized businesses in the U.S., U.K., and Canada. eCapital finances 6,000+ clients through factoring and asset-based lending facilities and provides ancillary services such as credit cards, fuel cards, bill pay, and other treasury services. The business was founded in 2006 and employs 700+ people globally.

Prior to his leadership role with eCapital, Marius was CEO and Director of ONE Bio Corp and Tele Plus World Corp, accumulating over 20 years of experience in structured finance, syndication and mergers and acquisitions. As a Forbes Finance Council Member, he is an emerging thought leader on financial services and corporate leadership. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration from HEC University in Montreal.

Timestamps

0:00 Disclaimer & Intro

3:51 Marius' journey to eCapital CEO

6:14 What eCapital does for SMBs

12:12 Examples of industries using eCapital

15:40 Mitigating risk with eCapital's loans

29:48 eCapital's technological applications

33:18 eCapital's growth strategy

38:41 What economical challenges is eCapital seeing?

43:01 How does eCapital differ from other lenders?

45:39 Ensuring liquidity within eCapital

48:11 How should investors evaluate private debt firms?

51:20 If Marius could do anything, what would it be?