When Santander and Pemberton came together to form Invensa in 2024, the goal was not to build another supply chain finance (SCF) platform but to redefine how corporates think about inventory. Invensa was conceived as a joint-venture operating company capable of purchasing, owning and transporting goods across global supply chains, a model designed for the just-in-case economy that emerged after years of disruption.
For Santander, the partnership marked a deliberate strategic step. “It’s transformational for us,” highlights Mencía Bobo, Santander CIB’s global head of global transaction banking. “It’s one of the few times we’ve created a partnership of this type – a company that serves a very specific purpose, combining the best of different worlds. It shows how we can move faster by working with the right partners.”
Enrique Rico, Santander CIB’s global head of trade and working-capital solutions, explains the importance of finding the right partner. “We selected Pemberton as our partner for two reasons: their experience in building successful businesses and their innovative approach in working-capital solutions,” he says. “We’d worked with them for more than six years.”
It was a genuine meeting of minds – complementary skills, complementary balance sheets and a shared ambition to build something new
Oren Bass, Pemberton
Pemberton, for its part, had been exploring the inventory finance market for several years. “We’ve been looking at the space for several years due to seeing a real need for a more innovative inventory solutions from corporates and an attractive financing opportunity for investors,” recalls Oren Bass, chief executive officer at Invensa and partner and head of working-capital finance at Pemberton Asset Management. “We’ve funded a number of deals in the space, but what we lacked to launch a company like Invensa was the right partner with the right client franchise, product knowledge and scale of balance sheet. When Santander approached us, it was a genuine meeting of minds – complementary skills, complementary balance sheets and a shared ambition to build something new.”
That complementarity – a leading European private debt house and one of the world’s largest trade finance banks – gives Invensa a foundation few can match.
Building a new model for inventory finance
The partnership’s timing could hardly have been better. Corporates are still adjusting to the shocks of recent years: pandemic; geopolitical volatility; the rise of nearshoring; and continuous uncertainty brought by trade discussions. Many are now holding more stock to safeguard production, putting pressure on balance sheets and cash flow. Invensa’s proposition is to ease that tension by taking ownership of inventory while maintaining operational flexibility.
Bass explains that Invensa’s offering is built on two levels: product and platform. The company has spent the past year refining its inventory-management and financing solution to fit the different needs and use cases of corporates. “The last thing corporates want is to disrupt a corporate’s supply chain,” he says. “Our platform is industry- and jurisdiction-agnostic, and can integrate seamlessly with a client’s existing systems, thereby allowing our clients to keep operating without disruption.”
Invensa’s technology platform combines best-in-class third-party software with proprietary tools to give corporates real-time visibility across their supply chains. It enables continuous monitoring of inventory, shipments and financial flows, while AI analytics turn complex data into practical insights for forecasting, risk management and decision-making. With automated alerts and built-in resilience features, the platform helps businesses anticipate disruption and maintain control across global operations.
People, governance and trust
Behind the technology is a team designed to reflect the multi-disciplinary nature of modern trade. “What makes this company different,” says Bass, “is that we’ve built it with supply-chain experts on board who deeply understand the challenges and motivations of each stakeholder in the supply chain – ranging from the procurement to sales to treasury.”
That mix of skills, coupled with a strong governance structure, has been central to Invensa’s credibility with multinational clients. The joint-venture model means Pemberton and Santander hold equity in the company and sit on its board, ensuring oversight and alignment from day one.
This is not the typical third-party model where every partner has to redo due diligence; we operate as one
Enrique Rico, Santander CIB
“The governance put in place was approved by both Santander and Pemberton,” explains Rico. “This means that we are fully aligned on the transactions we want to do and therefore client experience is smoother and faster – this is not the typical third-party model where every partner has to redo due diligence; we operate as one.”
Trust is a recurring theme. As Bass notes: “When you’re asking a multinational to let you manage their critical supplies, trust is everything. Having Santander and Pemberton behind Invensa changes the conversation completely. It’s two established institutions building a new standard for the market.”
Invensa’s early progress has been swift. Within its first year, the company has built out its team, technology and governance, and is already working with corporates across multiple regions.
“The response from clients has been incredibly positive,” says Bass. “Corporates recognise that supply-chain shocks aren’t going away and they need innovative yet stable solutions that combine operational flexibility, scalable financing and customisation.”
For Santander and Pemberton, Invensa also represents a new model of partnership in transaction banking – one that blends the origination and structuring capabilities of an investment bank with the agility of an asset manager. “Banks don’t usually take underlying asset risk,” highlights Rico. “But this is a big step forward – a sign that we’re willing to invest equity and take carefully analysed risks to deliver innovation for our clients.”
Looking ahead, both partners share the same ambition. “In five years’ time,” says Bass, “we want Invensa to be the global leader in inventory finance. We’ve made a great start, but success will depend on execution.”
