SME financing glossary

Your structured funding request: the five steps filled in, the documents uploaded and what has been checked, all in one place.

It is not a project and not a deck. A dossier carries a status (draft, submitted, under review, qualified), an anteriority fingerprint, a data room and a verification list. It is what an investor reads, and the only thing KAPEX circulates.

On KAPEX: "My dossiers" in the menu, "Submit a dossier" on the home page.

You, if you are looking for money. The company or person who files a dossier.

On KAPEX: Verification list, confidentiality undertaking.

The share of your dossier that has been checked: a fraction, not a score.

A verification says what was checked, how, from which source and on what date. It does not say whether your project is good.

On KAPEX: Verification list, Pricing page.

See also Verification · Evidence grades T1 to T5 · Capital Readiness

The internal measure of what is filled in across your dossier, category by category.

It counts filled fields and uploaded documents. It is neither an investment recommendation nor a financing guarantee, and not an opinion on your company.

On KAPEX: Dashboard, readiness block.

See also Coverage · Dossier

What an investor says they are looking for: which sectors, countries, amounts, form of money and for how long.

The mandate sorts. Each dossier is compared to its criteria one by one (“5 of 7”) and ranks higher the more it meets; an investor can also show only the dossiers that match. Only your exclusions remove a dossier from view.

On KAPEX: "My mandate" in the investor menu.

See also Match · Mandate contract · Ticket

A count of an investor's own criteria that your dossier meets. Never a score of your dossier.

On KAPEX: Investor deal flow.

See also Mandate · Deal flow

The list of dossiers an investor receives on KAPEX, ranked by what they are looking for.

The human read of your dossier before it circulates: a team, not an algorithm.

The moment KAPEX puts you in front of an investor. It is free, and it stays free.

The shared folder where an investor reads your full documents, after signing the confidentiality undertaking.

See also Confidentiality undertaking · Investor access levels

What an investor can see of your dossier, depending on what they have proved about themselves.

The trap. These access levels are unrelated to the T1 to T5 evidence grades in verification.

See also Data room · Evidence grades T1 to T5

The investors you bar from seeing your dossier: by country, by type, or by name.

Timestamped proof that the text of your dossier existed on a given date.

It is not an intellectual property filing and it does not protect an idea: it dates a piece of writing.

One or two pages that make someone want to open the dossier, giving away nothing confidential.

Ten questions about your documents, not your idea. Free, and it lists what is missing.

A dossier you have started and saved, which nobody but you can see.

Where a document comes from and who obtained it: the registry itself, your bank, or you.

See also Evidence grades T1 to T5 · Verification

Where your company stands: just an idea, newly started, first sales, growing, expanding, or needing to reorganise.

The stage says what the company has already proven. Investors specialise by stage, which is why it is part of their mandate.

See also Mandate · Match

How long the investor expects to need, once the dossier is studied, to decide whether to invest.

Given when the investor expresses interest. It is an intention, not a commitment.

See also Introduction · Ticket

Choosing and putting together the form of money, contracts and security for a financing.

What you will buy or pay for with the money requested, item by item, in percentages.

See also Working capital

The funder’s detailed study of your file: checks, calculations, then a written note for its committee.

See also Due diligence · Qualification

The regular reports (figures, activity, results) you must send to whoever finances you.

The meeting where the funder’s senior people decide to say yes, no, or yes with conditions to your file.

The person at the funder who follows your file, studies it and presents it to the committee.

The document the investment officer writes for the committee: what was checked, the risks, and the recommendation.

The committee says neither yes nor no: it postpones its decision and asks for more answers or documents.

An investor becomes your partner by buying a share of the company. Nothing to repay; they gain if the company is worth more later.

No interest, nothing leaving the bank account each month. In exchange you share decisions and upside, and your percentage falls.

See also Dilution · Pre-money valuation · Exit

Money is lent to you, you repay it with interest, and you keep 100% of your company.

See also Security · DSCR · Tenor · Covenant

A loan dearer than a bank loan, repaid after the bank. The lender often also asks for a small share of the company.

See also Loan · Equity · Kicker

Money you do not repay and that costs you no share of the company.

You sell a majority or all of your company to a buyer, instead of raising funds.

On KAPEX a sale covers 51% to 100% of the company. The company stays anonymous until the buyer signs a confidentiality undertaking.

See also Confidentiality undertaking · Teaser · Equity

Money that behaves like a loan at first and can turn into share capital later.

See also Mezzanine

An investment now, with the exact share worked out at the next round.

See also Pre-money valuation · Dilution

The option on shares a mezzanine lender adds to the loan, to capture some of the upside.

See also Mezzanine

You repay a fixed percentage of monthly revenue, up to a cap.

Public or philanthropic money placed ahead of private money, to absorb the first losses.

A specific project financed on its own revenue, not on the company behind it.

You sell your unpaid invoices to a third party, who advances the cash now.

The equipment is bought by a financier, you rent it, and you can buy it at the end.

A reserve you draw on when you need it and repay when you get paid.

See also Working capital

The amount an investor puts into one company. For you, it is the amount you are asking for.

Every investor has a floor and a ceiling. Below the floor, a dossier costs more to assess than it returns.

See also Mandate

How the money reaches you: a loan to repay, a partner buying a share, a mix of both, or a gift.

The instrument decides what you owe in return. Each investor uses only some instruments: it is one of the criteria in their mandate.

See also Equity · Loan · Mezzanine · Grant

The time you need: to repay a loan, or for which an investor leaves their money in your company.

The first months where you pay interest only, not principal.

See also Tenor

The day the last loan repayment is due.

See also Tenor

The moment the investor who became your partner sells their share and gets their money back, usually after 5 to 7 years.

See also Equity

What your company is worth today, before the new money arrives. An estimate, to be discussed with the investor.

Post-money = pre-money + amount invested. The investor's share = amount ÷ post-money.

See also Dilution · Equity offered

The percentage of your company you give the investor in exchange for their money.

See also Pre-money valuation · Dilution

Your share of the company gets smaller when a partner comes in. The cake grows: your slice can be worth more.

See also Pre-money valuation · Cap table

A short letter, before the contract, summarising the investor’s offer: amount, share, conditions.

See also Liquidation preference · Covenant

The investor takes their money back before the rest is shared.

A number you promise in the loan contract and must hold to every year.

What you earn, divided by what you must repay this year.

See also Covenant

What the investor hopes to earn each year, as a percentage of the money put in.

A person investing their own money, usually USD 10,000 to 150,000.

An international public bank that lends to or invests in companies in countries like Madagascar (for example Proparco, IFC).

See also Additionality

Proof that a public institution brings something an ordinary bank would not.

See also DFI

An institution that lends you nothing, but absorbs part of the bank's loss if you default.

See also Security · Personal guarantee

The total amount an investor manages.

See also Mandate · Ticket

The operation by which money comes into your share capital.

A fund that buys shares in companies for a few years, then sells them hoping for a gain.

See also Equity · Exit · IRR

The team investing a wealthy family’s money, or a well-off person investing directly.

See also Business angel

Someone from the region, living abroad, who invests in a company back home.

Replacing a heavy loan with a new, easier one, or reorganising the company to get back on track.

See also Loan · Stage

The fixed dates and amounts on which you repay the loan, for example monthly, even in difficult months.

See also Loan · Tenor · Grace period

A company in the same trade investing in you to work together, sometimes to buy you later.

See also Equity

Several investors put money together into the same company, each for their own share.

A bank, microfinance institution or leasing company: a body that lends money.

See also Loan · Leasing

Money that does not make you give up any share of the company: a loan or a grant, for example.

See also Dilution · Grant · Loan

The price you pay each year to borrow, as a percentage of the amount lent. At 15%, 1,000,000 Ar costs 150,000 Ar a year.

See also Loan · IRR

The rate at which the central bank lends to banks. It is a floor: banks always lend to you at more than this.

See also Interest rate

The interest rate minus the rise in prices (inflation). It is what money really costs once inflation is taken off.

See also Interest rate

The risk of losing money if the currency of your sales falls against the currency of your debt.

Borrowing in the currency you sell in: your sales and your debt rise and fall together, with no contract to pay for.

What the bank adds to its base rate according to the risk of your file; it is the part you can negotiate.

The moment the lender or investor actually pays the money into your account.

The bank advances you the money on an invoice or bill before your customer pays, for a fee.

The money stuck in your stock and in invoices your customers have not yet paid.

It grows as you grow, which is why a profitable company can run out of cash while expanding.

See also Working capital line

Your accounting year: twelve months ending on a fixed date, usually 31 December.

Everything you invoiced over the year, before any expense.

What your business generates before interest, tax and the wear on your machines.

Everything that leaves the account in a month, without deducting what comes in.

Accounts an independent professional has checked and signed an opinion on.

See also Statutory auditor · Accountant

The independent professional who checks your accounts and signs off on them.

The professional who keeps or prepares your accounts. They do not certify them.

A sheet projecting your revenue, costs and cash over three to five years.

The list of who owns what in your company, in shares and in percentage.

See also Dilution · Beneficial owner

What you earn or lose on a single sale, a single customer, a single hectare.

The invoices your customers owe you and have not yet paid.

See also Factoring · Pledge

What the company owns that has value: land, buildings, machines, vehicles, stock.

See also Security

The number of months your company can keep going on the money in the bank, if nothing new comes in.

The year’s table: everything you sold, minus everything you spent, equals the profit or loss.

The company’s snapshot on one date: what it owns on one side, what it owes on the other.

Tracking the money coming into and going out of the account, month by month, to know whether enough will remain.

The page where you write down your plan’s assumptions (prices, volumes, timing) and where each one comes from.

Redoing the sums with one assumption changed (lower sales, weaker currency) to see whether the plan still holds.

The auditor’s written remark on a point in the accounts they could not check or disagree with. The rest is approved.

When a large share of your sales depends on one or two customers: if one leaves, the company suffers.

Simple accounts made every month to steer the company: sales, spending, cash. They are not audited.

Checking that what your accounts say matches, line by line, what the bank statement shows.

What the lender can seize if you do not repay: land, a machine, money your customers owe you.

See also Guarantee fund · Mortgage · Pledge · Personal guarantee

Your land or building is pledged: if you do not repay, the lender can have it sold.

See also Security · Land title

A machine, a vehicle, your stock or your customer invoices are pledged to secure the loan.

See also Security · Receivables

You promise to pay yourself if the company cannot. Your house and savings can then be taken.

See also Security

Your company’s official form (limited company, corporation, sole trader…): it decides who can become a partner and what you risk.

A company that does nothing itself: it owns shares in other companies.

See also SPV

A company set up for one project only, so its money and risks stay separate from your other business.

See also Holding company · Project finance

The official registration of your company, and the document proving it.

The company's founding contract: who decides what, by what majority.

The agreement between shareholders, alongside the articles, on what they promise each other.

See also Reserved matters · Drag-along · Pre-emption

The list, in the shareholders’ agreement, of decisions you can no longer take without the investor’s consent.

Selling an asset, borrowing above a threshold, changing the business, appointing the managing director, distributions. This list, not your percentage, says what you still decide alone. It is negotiated line by line, before signing.

See also Shareholders' agreement · Drag-along

The power to decide, which rests on the agreement and the board, not only on the percentage held.

You can hold 70% and no longer decide anything that matters, or 51% and decide everything, depending on what the agreement reserves and who sits on the board. The percentage sets your share of the value; control is read in the clauses.

See also Reserved matters · Shareholders' agreement · Dilution

When a buyer wants 100% of the company, the partners holding the threshold set in the clause can oblige the others to sell, on the same terms.

Check who can trigger it and from what threshold: if the fund can do so alone, it can sell the company without you. It is negotiable: a floor price, a period before it applies, and a right for the family to buy first at the price the third party offers. With that right, the fund gets its exit and the family keeps the house.

See also Tag-along · Pre-emption · Exit

When a partner sells its stake, the minority partners can sell theirs alongside it, on the same terms.

See also Drag-along · Pre-emption

If a shareholder sells, the others may buy the shares first, at the same price.

See also Shareholders' agreement · Drag-along

Any transaction between the company and you, your family, your other companies or your shareholders.

The natural person who, at the end of the chain, really owns or controls the company.

See also Cap table · KYC

The identity check every financier is legally required to run on you before paying out.

See also Beneficial owner · Politically exposed person

Someone holding or having held a prominent public position, plus their family and close associates.

Being a PEP forbids nothing. It triggers enhanced checks. Failing to declare it stops the dossier.

See also KYC

The official authorisation to carry on your business, issued by the sector regulator.

See also Incorporation

The contract where the investor promises not to repeat what they read, nor deal with your contacts behind your back.

See also Data room

The person allowed to sign on the company’s behalf: usually the managing director.

The signed paper by which a company authorises an adviser to file its dossier on its behalf.

See also Mandate · Authorised representative

All the shares of the company. “20% of the capital” means 20% of the company.

See also Equity · Equity offered · Dilution

The business itself: customers, name, sign, equipment, stock. It can be sold without selling the company.

See also Business sale · Share sale

The buyer purchases the company’s shares and takes over everything, including its debts and contracts.

See also Business sale · Business assets

Majority: more than half the shares, hence the power to decide. Minority: less than half.

See also Control · Business sale

An adviser authorised in writing to present a company’s dossier on its behalf.

See also Mandate contract · Authorised representative

The company’s official name, as written in the trade register.

If the company fails, you lose only the money you put in, not your house or savings, unless you signed a personal guarantee.

See also Legal structure · Personal guarantee

A company set up and owned by several partners for a shared project.

A condition written into the agreement: until it is met (a document, an approval), the money is not paid out.

A licensed Mauritian company that works mainly outside Mauritius and must prove it has a real presence there.

Proof that a company really lives where it is registered: local directors, a bank account, spending, meetings.

An agreement between two countries so the same income is not taxed twice, often lowering the tax on dividends.

In Mauritius, a tax cut on some of a company’s income, provided it has real activity on the island.

In Mauritius, the licensed provider that sets up, runs and keeps the records of a licensed company.

A person listed as the owner in place of someone else, who stays hidden.

Someone the company owes money to whom the law pays before others (the state, employees, a secured lender).

You promise not to talk to other investors for a period, while this one checks your file.

Shares that give the investor rights beyond the other partners: being paid first, voting on certain matters.

An investor protection: if a future round happens at a lower price, they receive a few extra shares.

An investor holding less than half the shares, who does not want to run the company and mainly expects to sell at a higher price.

The document attesting a right of ownership over land. In Madagascar it is a starting point, not a proof.

See also Mortgage · Long lease

The up-to-date position of a plot at the land office: who owns it, and what encumbers it.

See also Land title

A very long lease, up to 99 years, giving rights close to ownership.

See also Land title

The physical delimitation of the plot by a surveyor, with markers and a plan.

See also Land title

The valuation of an asset by an outside professional who puts their name to it.

See also Land title

In Madagascar, the paper issued by the local council recognising your rights over untitled land; weaker than a title.

Becoming the owner of land by occupying it openly and continuously for a long time, under conditions set by law.

The mark of a dossier where every required piece has been traced: source, method, date, expiry. Coverage, never an opinion.

The founder orders the evidence file; the KAPEX team checks each piece and records how. The mark shows with its verification date and validity date, and disappears at expiry unless renewed. It does not say the company is a good investment.

On KAPEX: Deal-flow cards, dossier header, “KAPEX Verified only” filter.

The trap. A dossier without the mark is not a doubtful dossier: its coverage is shown next to it, piece by piece.

See also Coverage · Evidence grades T1 to T5 · Stale evidence

Checking your documents at source, one by one, with a record of who checked what and when.

See also Coverage · Evidence grades T1 to T5 · Provenance

The strength of the proof behind each item of your dossier, from official registry to plain statement.

See also Verification · Provenance · Investor access levels

The investigation the investor runs on you before signing.

See also Verification

What a verification covered, and what it did not look at. Declared, never implied.

See also Coverage

The label carried by each block of your dossier: declared by you, provided by management, or checked by KAPEX.

The official document saying you are up to date on tax and contributions, or have a payment plan.

A document whose validity has expired: it drops out of coverage until replaced.

See also Evidence grades T1 to T5

The activities a financier never funds, whatever your numbers.

The UN’s 17 big goals (hunger, health, water, jobs…). The number says which one your project helps; it is not a score.

What a financier looks at besides your numbers: nature, your staff and neighbours, and how the company is run.

See also Category A, B or C

The environmental and social risk level of your project, as a development institution grades it.

See also ESG

The international standard telling a financier whether a deal counts as gender finance.

The two impact indicator catalogues financiers share, so that you count once.

An output is what you produced. An outcome is what changed in people's lives.

One full-time post. Two half-time posts make one FTE.

One page saying how what you do produces what you claim, with the assumption written under each arrow.

A body that meets, decides and leaves a written record. Not an org chart.

An investor who wants their money back with a gain, and real progress for people or nature.

See also SDG · ESG