CreditEnable
Wins Rise FinTech Company of the Year 2021!
CreditEnable is a credit insight and technology company that applies proprietary data analytics and AI to build solutions to the world’s biggest financial challenges.
CreditEnable
CreditEnable is a credit insight and technology company that applies proprietary data analytics and AI to build solutions to the world’s biggest financial challenges. With more than 100 years of combined expertise in technology, credit, risk and the SME segment, the company’s management team has built and managed credit and risk platforms and data analytics solutions for the largest global financial institutions – including Bankers Trust, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, Citi and Experian.
In India, CreditEnable works with more than 25 of the country’s leading financial institutions, including ICICI Bank, IDFC First Bank, Kotak Mahindra, Deutsche Bank, DBS and Bajaj Finserv. The firm is backed by Silicon Valley venture capitalists Alter Global and Astia, along with prominent Indian investors, Aditya Ghosh and Vikram Gandhi.
The firm also provides embedded financing solutions to e-commerce platforms and corporates, to help SMEs in those ecosystems access affordable finance.
An Urgent Problem
245 million creditworthy SMEs in developing economies are underserved by the formal financial sector. Of the US$8.1 trillion in SME credit available each year globally, US$4.5 trillion goes undisbursed. This credit remains trapped at formal financial institutions because it’s too expensive and time-consuming to pay out. At the same time, SMEs have to wait 6-8 weeks on average for a decision on a business loan from banks, and get only 5% of the total credit issued – so they typically go into the informal sector to get their financing needs met, and face up to 200% interest rates. As an example, close to US$2.9 trillion gets disbursed to SMEs in the informal sector every year. In addition, they suffer from a lack of good guidance on which lender and loan product is right for their business, how to build a strong financial profile, and when to raise debt.
CreditEnable’s solution
London and Mumbai-based CreditEnable aims to change this by using AI technology to efficiently balance demand and supply of loans, helping to match SME lenders and borrowers with minimum effort. For borrowers, the company’s platform reduces time and complexity in applying for a business loan, and provides access to affordable finance. CreditEnable offers its services free to borrowers, and ensures that looking for a loan doesn’t affect their credit score. Businesses also receive tips and help from the company on how to improve their credit profile. For SME lenders, CreditEnable’s platform supports profitable growth by substantially reducing the time involved in underwriting loans, providing efficient access to quality borrowers, and improving the quality of their loan books.
Impressive results
Since launching its platform in December 2020, CreditEnable has received more than 200,000 requests for assistance from SMEs, and is now helping thousands of them every day to access affordable finance and improve their credit profile. The company has partnered with more than 25 lenders with over US$260 billion in loan books to deploy, and its platform is helping to accelerate those lenders’ ability to distribute loans quickly and cost-effectively. CreditEnable also provides an embedded solution on Walmart-owned Flipkart’s e-commerce site, where its services are available to the online store’s 300,000-plus SME sellers, so they can access affordable finance wherever they are.
The company was recently awarded the Silver Prize for Responsible Digital Innovator of the Year from the IFC. It was also named one of the top 100 FinTechs in the world by the Central Bank of the UAE for its technology that bridges the gap between borrowers and lenders.
Future plans
CreditEnable is now expanding its network of corporate partnerships to include major players in key industries such as food and drink, FMCG, textiles and healthcare, with the aim of tapping into their wider pools of SME suppliers and providing them with affordable financing. It’s also rolling out its embedded technology solution into other major platforms, and is seeking further partnerships with other e-commerce platforms and those with a large network of SMEs.
How being part of Rise has helped
CreditEnable’s first office in Mumbai was in the Rise India headquarters. This brought the company physically close to its lender partners, many of whom were located in the same building or some of the buildings next door, allowing it to iterate and innovate more quickly to build solutions for them. The team also got the chance to interact with other fast-moving FinTechs in the Rise ecosystem, and to work with them on trying to crack some of the problems relating to data capture that have been central to making its technology platform work as smoothly as it does today.
Inspiration
“The entrepreneur I would most want to go for coffee with is Nandan Nilekani, who, in addition to being a co-founder of Infosys, one of the biggest technology firms in the world, has been instrumental in digitising India, including creating the architecture for Aadhaar, which is an Indian biometric ID system, a database which contains demographic information and home addresses of Indians. In April 2017, 1.14 billion Indian people got their ID number. In 2016, World Bank Chief Economist Paul Romer called Aadhaar ‘the most sophisticated ID programme in the world’ and a new tech-enabled open data regime, which will transform the way borrowers can access credit in India while keeping their data safe.”