Born from Inria research
Reducing inter-company debt through network science
MURENE develops mathematical models and multilateral netting algorithms that free up corporate cash flow, grounded in graph theory.
The problem
Late payments and crossed debts strain the cash flow of small and medium businesses. These debts are not independent: they form networks of interdependencies where a local failure can have global effects.
Our approach
We model B2B invoice networks as graphs, where vertices are companies and edges are invoices. Our algorithms identify and offset chained debts to reduce liquidity needs.
Scientific grounding
A research group spanning Inria, LORIA and Bocconi, at the interface of mathematics, computer science and economics, whose work has led to several peer-reviewed scientific publications.
Why care about inter-company debt?
Inter-company debts now form complex networks whose dynamics can weaken the entire economic fabric. The MURENE project studies these networks using models and algorithms to propose new approaches for reducing debts and liquidity needs.
A complex-systems and graph-theory approach
In MURENE, inter-company debt relations are modelled as weighted directed multigraphs, where vertices represent companies and edges represent invoices. This representation supports several objectives:
- Modelling B2B invoice networks and characterising their structures
- Studying integral and temporal netting of inter-company debts
- Developing algorithms capable of handling large-scale graphs
- Assessing the effect of these strategies on liquidity needs
An Inria exploratory action, a startup in the making
MURENE began as an Inria exploratory action — a framework for new, interdisciplinary, high-risk research directions. The project sits at the interface of mathematics, computer science, economics and complex-systems science. It has since been accepted into the Inria Startup Studio, with the goal of turning this research into concrete decision-support and debt-simplification tools for companies.
Interview on the creation of the MURENE exploratory action, by Nazim Fatès (in French)
Our Inria Startup Studio presentation
Our application presentation to the Inria Startup Studio is available for download (in French).
MURENE — Inria Startup Studio presentation
PDF document (in French), opens in a new tab