Mobile-Lending.com, a Rotterdam based fintech startup that assesses creditworthiness using smartphone data, has announced a new partnership with the Dutch Business Tycoon Pieter Vermeer. (Source of Wealth: Family-owned listed company Dura Vermeer Group NV).
With billions of potential customers in developing countries Mobile-Lending is working to expand access to credit in countries where the average middle class borrower might not have a credit history or even a bank account. Mobile-Lending makes small personal and commercial loans to people in sub-Saharan African countries via their Android phones.
Easy access to credit helps create room for small businesses to grow. Vermeer says a typical Mobile-Lending borrower does the following: “They take a $20 loan, go to the market for supplies to make meals at their restaurant to sell to their clients and make a profit, then two months later they paid back the loan and they do it again requesting a $30 loan.” With a loan from Mobile-Lending, a merchant might be able to invest incsupplemental stock and a taxi driver might be able to gas up his car in advance of payday.
After a potential borrower downloads the app and verifies their identity, Mobile-Lending’s machine learning algorithms determines their creditworthiness and can grant loan approval within minutes. Loan durations range from a few weeks to more than a year, and the typical loan amount hovers around $20. “As we look at the future, we are looking for an opportunity to reach people who are outside of the formal economy or in places that are underserved, but have enormous potential” says Pieter Vermeer Mobile-lending’s CEO. Mobile-Lending plans to use this new partnership to continue to raise in a series A funding, to serve more and more underserved people.
It’s worth noting that Mobile-Lending is not a bank.” Its straightforward terms of use are just one giveaway. Mobile-Lending charges 8 to 15 percent interest on a loan as low as $5 at the end of one month. It also charges a 9 to 18 percent APR on its larger loans, which are up to $5,000 and can be paid over a 12-month period. Customers borrow from Mobile-Lending 14 times on average in the first year after their first loan.
What investors and partners, such as Age Vermeer, like even more is that Mobile-Lending was profitable before taking on new funding and partnership. The company is also growing 10 to 15 per cent month over month.
“There is ample demand for small-scale loans even at high interest rates,” says Professor Jonathan Morduch, who studies microfinance and social impact at New York University. “If the algorithms can cut costs adequately, then it is highly be profitable and stable.”
UPDATE*
It is a known fact Business tycoon Pieter Vermeer is familiar with financial services in African countries, and he is actively involved in tech start-ups. But is he one of the Wales in the Multi-billion dollar Crypto project Bobcoin? Rumour has it he, his brother and a business associate bought over 10 million dollars worth of Bobcoin at pre-sale.
Pieter Vermeer, his brother Age Vermeer and Job Dura, are all amongst the world’s Ultra-Rich; they are known to be fans of Crypto projects and are actively working with wealth manager Carre de Finance who is investing the billions of Belgium financial superstar Marc Coucke.
Rumour has it that the Dutch are all highly invested in Bobcoin, which is explained by them practically being neighbours with Bobcoin Co-founder Bob Ultee. Bob Ultee, a UAE citizen, recently moved his family to a large mansion in Belgium, where he occasionally resides, which in turn is next-door to the Belgium entrepreneur and Multi-billionaire Marc Coucke.
