The Exchanges

Q So you were founded, uh, Alexander in 2012, uh, and then coming up through today, uh, it looks like based off kind of the research I did, you guys raised about, what, a hundred and fifty two million bucks in seven rounds?

A Um, I'm not sure if it's exactly seven rounds, um, but I mean, we, we have raised, uh, around, uh, a hundred, uh, twenty million in, uh, equity capital to date. Uh, we, I mean, actually very proud of the investor base that we, that we managed to bring on board. Uh, so, I mean, just to draw a couple names, we have, um, and IFC and the World Bank invested. We have Jesse Flowers invested. We have Peter Thiel invested. Um, so there are a couple of big names, uh, from, from all around the world. Um, as you know, I mean, I mean, as lending business, clearly, I mean, you need to, I mean, sit on a certain pool of capital in order to run your business. And, uh, we, we are not a marketplace. It means we actually manage our own balance sheet. And for that, we, we, uh, raise basically both equity and debt capital. So we have about thirty million in debt capital. Um, we have, uh, we have a larger line, um, from, uh, so we work with several institutional investors on, on, on, on that side. Um, so the, the way basically how we refinance ourselves is that we run a securitization program where we actually, I mean, package and sell loans which originated to, uh, to those investors.

AI assessment note: “we have raised, uh, around, uh, a hundred, uh, twenty million in, uh, equity capital”

Q And do you do this in any specific industry or vertical or is it all over? So small business, you know, credit lines, uh, real estate. Could you have any sector focus or no?

A So we focus on consumers and, um, of course, I mean, in, in, in many of those cases, I think, um, I mean, they're, they're, I mean, as, um, um, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, a lot of people basically use our laws for businesses as well, particular, I mean, those, I mean, which are like small, um, and, and, and, and micro entrepreneurs and, and, and basically people who run their own businesses. But I mean, our key segment is really, I mean, to go after, uh, to go after consumers and After, uh, consumer credit risk, and, and, and the average, uh, credit, uh, product that we, that we offer is, is an unsecured loan, so we are not really interested, I mean, for which purpose, I mean, it is used. We know that, I mean, most of our customers are using the loan, um, the funds which are, which are providing, I mean, for, um, for financing either large investments, for financing purchases, for financing large items like electronics, for instance, for financing medical expenses, and simply to cope with Unexpected, uh, financial shortages. And, uh, yeah, I mean, we are in many cases actually the only, uh, possibility, uh, for access to clients.

AI assessment note: “So we focus on consumers and, um, of course... our key segment is really”

Q I understand. That's great. And for my audience that might not be savvy in kind of the FinTech or kind of banking space, can you put that in context anyway? I mean, is that high? Is that low? Is that normal? What's that average per person that you've loaned to?

A Um, so, I mean, it clearly depends on who, who you're measuring yourself, uh, yourself against. Um, I mean, I mean, for us, I mean, last year when we, for the first time, actually broke the hundred million origination, um, for, for the entire year, 2015, I mean, that was clearly, I mean, a very, very important milestone for us. However, I mean, if we measure ourselves against, uh, the size of, um, uh, Wells Fargo or, um, Or, um, Capital One, I mean, it's clearly, I mean, I mean, it's clearly a fraction of, of their size. I mean, they, they clearly dwarfs us, I mean, with, uh, with their, with their volume. However, I mean, the, um, for us, I mean, the most important thing is, like, the amount of consumers we have, uh, we have, uh, done business with, because we say, I mean, every consumer that we're serving is basically a consumer which did not have the means to, to, to obtain finance, uh, financing before. It's a new market. In, in our markets, correct. Um, and, and, and therefore, I mean, we were actually very proud when we broke the one million of, uh, consumers, um, a couple, a couple of weeks ago.

AI assessment note: “if we measure ourselves against, uh, the size of, um, uh, Wells Fargo”

Q With your kind of internal technology versus the typical kind of credit reporting technology, What kind of deviation do you typically see between what credit score you will assign consumers versus what a bank would?

A So it's not so much, um, how, how much uplift we are, um, we're creating, um, on top of, let's say, I mean, a normal, um, credit underwriting process. In fact, we actually, um, I mean, enable to make credit business with a certain customer group in first place. I mean, let's imagine, right? I mean, there are people out there who, I mean, for just the reasons of the economic circumstance, the incompetence, and the absence of credit history, Don't make it through the approval process that banks are using for credit underwriting. And, um, that, uh, obviously, I mean, puts those people quite to a disadvantage. I think particularly when it comes to unexpected expenses and, and having, and being in need to actually refinance themselves. And, uh, what we are doing is, I mean, with our technology, we are, um, for the first time ever actually able to provide a credit rating For those customers and actually enabling to do credit business with them.

AI assessment note: “it's not so much, um, how, how much uplift we are, um, we're creating”