How Tessera works
Tessera is a syndication rail. It connects originators who make short-term, invoice-backed advances to investors who want the resulting yield — with a standardized underwriting layer in the middle so every note is priced the same way.
The asset: a single invoice
An SMB sells goods or services and issues an invoice due in 30–90 days. They don't want to wait. A factoring shop advances them most of the face value now and collects from the debtor later. That advance is the asset Tessera makes investable.
The underwriting engine
Every invoice is scored on six weighted signals: debtor credit quality (34%), originator cash-flow stability (18%), invoice concentration vs. revenue (16%), debtor payment speed (12%), originator tenure (10%), and term length (10%). The composite maps to an A–E grade, which sets the advance rate, the originator's fee, and the investor's target yield. Nothing is a black box — the breakdown is shown on every note.
Grades and pricing
Grade A notes advance 90% at ~8% target yield; B ~85% at ~11%; C ~80% at ~15%; D ~70% at ~20%. E is declined. Longer terms add a small yield premium. Higher yield is compensation for higher modeled default risk — it is not free.
Fractional funding
Listed notes can be funded by many investors in slices as small as $50. The originator gets capital as soon as the note fills. You hold a fractional claim on the invoice's repayment.
Settlement and defaults
When the debtor pays at maturity, investors receive principal plus the accrued yield. A minority of notes default — modeled here at ~4% — and those positions lose principal. Diversifying across many notes and grades is how investors manage that, exactly like any private-credit book.
What's real and what's simulated here
This is a working prototype. The underwriting engine, the marketplace, the ledger, fractional funding, portfolio accounting, and settlement are all real, running code. Capital is paper money, debtor payments are simulated at maturity, and seed invoices are synthetic. A production build would add KYC/AML, a Reg D 506(c) or fund wrapper, UCC-1 filing and invoice verification to stop double-pledging, bank/accounting data feeds for live underwriting, and real ACH settlement.