Invoice Factoring: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

RTS Financial leads the invoice factoring category with 53.9% valid recommendation coverage, unchanged from the July 2026 baseline. The gap to the next brand, altLINE at 43.0%, is 10.9 points.

altLINE recorded the largest decline since baseline, down 18.3 points from 61.3% to 43.0%. FundThrough (down 17.2 points, from 59.8% to 42.6%), Riviera Finance (down 15.6 points, from 55.1% to 39.5%), eCapital (down 10.2 points, from 41.4% to 31.2%), and TCI Business Capital (down 3.5 points, from 4.7% to 1.2%) also moved beyond normal variation over the same period.

The only brand to move beyond normal variation month over month was RTS Financial, rising 11.3 points from 42.6% in August 2026 to 53.9% in September 2026, reclaiming the category lead. The remaining tracked brands were stable between August and September 2026; several of the significant baseline decliners edged up slightly without reversing their decline since July.

Across the three-month series, the benchmark began with 354 prompt-surface observations in July 2026 and produced 256 qualified observations after qualification; in September 2026, it began with 516 prompt-surface observations and produced 256 qualified observations.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. August 2026 stood between the baseline and current months with 265 qualified observations.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Invoice Factoring

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. The funnel below shows how observations qualified.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. See the AI Market Discovery Methodology.

Current Brand Standings

This table is the primary current-month benchmark view, sorted by valid recommendation coverage.

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is mentioned in any form.
• Valid recommendation coverage: share of qualified observations where the brand appears in a valid recommendation shortlist.
• Top-three rate: share of qualified observations where the brand appears among the top three recommended options.
• Rank-one rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is the first recommendation.
• Net sentiment: positive minus negative mentions divided by total mentions, ranging from -1 to +1.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Most tracked brands declined since baseline, with four of the five significant decliners posting their sharpest single-month drops between July and August before only partially recovering in September.

Significant Decliners

Five brands declined beyond normal variation on valid recommendation coverage from July 2026 to September 2026:

• altLINE: down 18.3 points from 61.3% in July 2026 to 43.0% in September 2026. Presence rate fell 17.6 points (67.6% to 50.0%), and top-three rate fell 16.4 points (52.3% to 35.9%). Rank-one rate fell 3.5 points (19.9% to 16.4%). Net sentiment held at 0.9.
• FundThrough: down 17.2 points from 59.8% in July 2026 to 42.6% in September 2026. Presence rate fell 18.4 points (67.2% to 48.8%), top-three rate fell 12.5 points (52.7% to 40.2%), and rank-one rate fell 10.1 points (31.6% to 21.5%). Net sentiment held at 0.9. FundThrough declined in each of the two months since July 2026.
• Riviera Finance: down 15.6 points from 55.1% in July 2026 to 39.5% in September 2026. Presence rate fell 16.4 points (60.2% to 43.8%), and top-three rate fell 8.6 points (32.0% to 23.4%). Rank-one rate fell 2.0 points (5.5% to 3.5%). Net sentiment held at 0.9. Riviera Finance declined in each of the two months since July 2026.
• eCapital: down 10.2 points from 41.4% in July 2026 to 31.2% in September 2026. Presence rate fell 0.8 points (49.6% to 48.8%). Top-three rate fell 0.4 points (11.3% to 10.9%), and rank-one rate fell 0.7 points (2.3% to 1.6%). Net sentiment moved from 0.9 to 0.7. eCapital's September figure was 5.9 points above its August low, a change that does not reverse the decline since July.
• TCI Business Capital: down 3.5 points from 4.7% in July 2026 to 1.2% in September 2026. Presence rate fell 3.9 points (5.1% to 1.2%). Net sentiment moved from 0.9 to 1.0.

Stable Brands

The following brands stayed within normal month-to-month variation on valid recommendation coverage from July 2026 to September 2026:

• Gulf Coast Business Credit: fell from 0.4% in July 2026 to 0.0% in September 2026, with zero recommendations in September 2026.
• Porter Capital: down 0.4 points from 8.6% in July 2026 to 8.2% in September 2026, with 21 valid recommendations in September 2026. Presence rose 0.7 points (9.8% to 10.5%), and top-three rate rose 2.4 points (1.9% to 4.3%).
• RTS Financial: held at 53.9% in both July 2026 and September 2026. RTS Financial rose 11.3 points between August 2026 and September 2026, reclaiming the category lead. Presence was 58.6% in September 2026.
• Triumph Business Capital: down 3.5 points from 40.2% in July 2026 to 36.7% in September 2026, within normal variation. Top-three rate rose 1.2 points (15.6% to 16.8%), and rank-one rate rose 1.6 points (2.3% to 3.9%).
• Universal Funding: held at 2.3% in both July 2026 and September 2026, with 6 valid recommendations in September 2026.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Among the leading brands in September 2026:

RTS Financial leads on coverage but trails both competitors on first-position rates, showing that similar coverage can still hide different placement outcomes.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in September 2026 fell into the Brand Recommendation class, where the question is asking which provider to choose.

The current public series measures brand-recommendation discovery only; pricing, value, and head-to-head comparison have no public signal in this data.

Historical Measurement Record

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment; it is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure:

• Market share or actual client acquisition.
• Attributable sales or conversions from AI recommendations.
• Every possible AI response to a given question.
• Organic-search ranking positions.
• Social media mention volume or sentiment.
• Private or sponsored channels such as paid placements or brand-managed content.
• Causality from a metric movement alone.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how brands appear and are recommended across major AI search and assistant surfaces. It is a neutral industry benchmark, not an endorsement of any brand.

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

Get a Company-Level Authority Index

The public industry benchmark shows category-level standings. A company-level Authority Index can go deeper, showing your own brand's presence, recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment across AI surfaces with a more granular lens.

The public percentage cannot identify the prompts, competitors, or sources causing the result.

Get my free AI Company Index