Javia

26/02/2020

Javia founder Darren Chow pitched the company at UCL's Pitch competition today. He spoke about Javia's mission to eliminate the problem of underbanking by using alternative data. http://www.javia.uk

24/02/2020

Cool Company of the Week: Javia

This is the first post in what will be a weekly interview series where I feature a Cool Company of the Week, share some thoughts from the founder(s), and offer insight into the exciting road ahead.

Kicking things off is --a start-up utilizing advanced alternative data to provide credit scores. Their algoritihim takes factors into account like considering where an individual shops (Waitrose or Poundland) or whether they subscribe to (Netflix or Spotify).

I spoke with Javia's founder to see what they have been up to.

Louis: What is Javia's value proposition?

Darren: At Javia our goal is to help a larger number of potential borrowers to become ‘credit visible' this means increasing credit access to the underbanked. Additionally, Javia allows existing borrowers to access lower interest rates because the algorithim can better differentiate bad risks relative to good risks. A final benefit is reduced transaction costs as additional available data on potential borrowers will reduce traditionally manual processes.

Louis: If you had a Tube Advertisement for Javia what would be on it and why?

Darren: 1. Sick of loan sharks? Come try Javia 2.Want to improve your credit score but don't know how? 3. Let us teach you how to improve your finances – for free! 4. Microlending & overdrafts – transparent and ethical 5. We’ll lend you credit based on your facebook data! 6. We’ll lend you credit based on where you shop!

Louis: How do you plan to grow the business?

Darren: Once we have proven that the algorithm works i.e. offered loans / overdrafts ourselves and achieve a default rate of 2%, we will partner up with the fintechs and other lenders and license our algorithm out SaaS B2B. Eventually, when we have eliminated the underbanked segment we will pivot and use the algorithm for other use cases (e.g. determining how much premium an individual should pay for insurance / if he wanted to rent a car)

Louis: What is your “Secret Sauce”?

Darren: Using alternative data to credit score people in an ethical way. Also our strong Data science team

Louis: Why should people care about Javia and personal finance in general?

Darren:

We want to disrupt the alternative lending landscape and replace loan sharks / pawnbrokers etc.
We will improve the accuracy of individuals’ credit score
We can better differentiate bad loans from good loans
There are 2 million people in the UK who are underbanked – (138 million in Europe) – that’s a lot of people!
As you can see, is out to address the significant problem of credit lending for the underbanked. It will be interesting to follow the company's progress and see in particular how Javia builds strategic partnerships with other FinTechs or perhaps larger Financial Institutions. I expect that at some point down the road that Javia will test the B2C waters but for now I wish them the best of luck and believe Darren has the drive and intimate understanding of the technology to make a splash.

That's all for this first edition of Cool Company of the Week, see you next time and thanks for reading.

-Louis (your Start-Up oracle)

Published by
Louis Demetroulako
MSc Entrepreneurship candidate at UCL | 5+ years of Business Development | Fluent Mandarin

Following
The first week of my new Cool Company of the Week. I spoke with Javia founder Darren Chow about how the company is looking to change the Credit Lending game with

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cool-company-week-javia-louis-demetroulakos-/

21/02/2020

This move by Revolut and other digital banks will have profound implications for people's personal financial health. Account aggregation is one positive way people can better track their spending and start to see habits. We are interested in this because of the potential impact it will have on individual's financial behavior and ultimately Credit scores.

Revolut, the European banking and money transfer app that now claims over 10 million customers, has partnered with open banking API provider TrueLayer to add bank account aggregation features to its app. The new functionality means that Revolut’s U.K. customers — both consumer and busin…

20/02/2020

https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/81511/credit-karma-overhauls-web-and-app-offerings

Credit Karma overhauls Web and app offerings

Companies like Credit Karma focus on creating a great user experience but this focus avoids criticism of their underlying Credit Scoring algorithms. While they have added new determining factors such as 'Time on electoral role' and 'Number of new accounts' these factors do little to create an accurate credit picture for the underbanked.

Javia is looking to break the mold by focussing on untraditional inputs such as 'grocery shopping destination' and 'monthly entertainment subscriptions.' These factors more accurately reflect the financial health of the underbanked and yet major incumbents do not pay much attention to this space.

Javia is looking forward to exciting things ahead as we look to serve the under-banked and provide a truly accurate and human picture of one's credit history.

UK fintech and free credit report provider CreditKarma.co.uk has completed a radical overhaul of its web and app offering, bringing more tools and services to its members.