L-Pesa Microfinance is a fintech startup poised to take advantage of the fast-growing need for financial services in the developing world. The company has validated its operating model over the past 24 months and has built sophisticated technology, automating most of the operation. Its primary barrier to growth at this point is its ability to fund user acquisition and loans. The loss ratio on loans runs below 10% while return on loans is approximately 25%.
Market Problems
Microfinance has a long history around the world and for centuries has filled an important need. In fact, various forms of microfinance had a major impact on economic development in Western Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the past 50 years, microfinance has started making an impact in Asia and Africa through organizations like Grameen Bank.
However, traditional microfinance has limited reach, and solutions have been targeted towards poor farmers and small business owners. Middle class consumers and business owners in developing countries have an unmet demand for credit, but the current financial infrastructure in these countries does not support credit underwriting. The market today displays a number of problems:
- Underwriting
- Lack of Bank Credit
- Microfinance targets agriculture only
- Outdated operating models
- Microfinance targets the poor only
- Most consumers un-banked
L-Pesa Solution
- Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Blockchain
Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Blockchain New tools allow for storage of vast amounts of data and extensive data analysis at a fraction of the cost from just a few years ago. Advancements in Artificial Intelligence provide new
opportunities for automated loan underwriting. Blockchain technology allows for faster, safer, and less expensive exchange of value. Blockchain technology has just started to revolutionize financial services and will lead to enormous efficiencies over the next ten years – blockchain has been described as the internet of money and will do to financial
services was the internet did for information and commerce. - Data Alternative Credit
L-Pesa has developed a unique, proprietary credit scoring model based on user behavior combined with traditional and alternative credit data. L-Pesa ompetitors have developed their own proprietary models. Experience over the next decade will lead to revised best practices, which will eventually become industry standards. - Mobile Technology
The rise of the mobile phone over the past two decades has been one of the most profound technological and market shifts in human history. A large majority of humankind now owns a mobile phone, and many own smartphones. Mobile
financial services such as M-Pesa have become available in many countries and support both the banked as well as the unbanked population. Based on the market penetration of mobile phones (smartphones and feature phones), mobile money services such as M-Pesa, Tigo Pesa and Paytm have grown very quickly and have enabled L-Pesa. - Biometric Identity
Traditional microfinance has relied on a large network of branches since identity verification has been impossible online and difficult in person.
Why Blockchain?
The blockchain is an immutable public ledger that records digital transactions. This technology was first introduced by an anonymous individual under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 and has since revolutionized the way we conduct currency transactions worldwide. Blockchain enables trust to be distributed throughout a network, without the need for a central authority to track, verify and approve the digital exchange of value. It operates as a decentralized distributed database, maintaining a continuously growing list of records divided up into blocks. Legacy will take advantage of this technology to be decentralized and place its trust in its users. The blockchain is a fairly new technology and it is still in active development, improvements are happening continuously, and it has become more efficient and secure than the traditional antiquated systems, which is why banks, government, and other institutions are adopting the technology. Blockchains combine concepts of peer-to-peer networks, asymmetric cryptography, decentralized computing and smart contracts into a new technology platform. In short, blockchains are distributed peer-to-peer systems which implement a trustless shared public append-only transaction ledger.
L-Pesa has a strong focus on Automation. 95% of users acquisition and loan underwriting process is automated and is therefore very scalable. The company has spent two years developing customer-facing and back Office system using a team of seven software developers. The user interface is based on the experience of mobile web and marketing is primarily achieved through social media and SMS.
L-Pesa Tokens
L-Pesa’s technology stack is built on top of Amazon Web Services, an extremely scalable on-demand cloud computing platform which has been or is used by major brands such as Netflix, Airbnb, Pinterest, and Spotify.
L-Pesa has integrated a number of third party applications to perform tasks such as SMS messaging, user verification, and marketing. Funds transfers are handled via integrations with mobile money service providers such as M-Pesa, Tigo Pesa, and MTN. L-Pesa has issued over 38,000 loans since going live in March 2016. Over 170,000 users have registered based on social marketing campaigns run on a minimal budget. The marketing strategy has been refined over the past 24 months, and L-Pesa is now prepared to launch marketing campaigns via SMS and social media with a conservatively projected customer acquisition cost of $1.00. The founder of L-Pesa, has invested approximately $500,000 to date. The
business was launched in Tanzania in 2016 and in Kenya in August 2017. Soft launches are underway in Uganda and India. The company’s technology is stable, scalable, proven, and will support the company’s growth plans. At this point, L-Pesa has hit a growth barrier—there is not enough capital available to lend to everyone interested, and the potential for user acquisition is almost unlimited, but requires capital for marketing expenses and support staff. The company is now raising funds to take advantage of its leading position, strong platform, and nearly unlimited opportunity to extend
financial options to a large portion of the earth’s population.
Token Launch Summary
Token name: KRIPTON
Token ticker: LPK
Token owner:
L-P Kripton ltd., Suite 2B, 143 Main Street, Gibraltar
GX111AA.
Company Number: 116865
REID Number: GICO.116865-49
The number of signs being issued: maximum amount of 2.6 billion. The final amount of
signs that are created will be calculated in accordance with the final amount of the contribution.
The final amount will be published end of ICO.
Mining: there will be no mining or any other means to increase the token
the number of ICO, save both in the future.
Team:
Ron Ezra Tuval, founder and managing director L-Pesa, has extensive experience in the developing world, particularly regarding agricultural technology-related and tourism projects. Ron first came across microfinance in Southeast Asia and spent decades incubating ideas L-Pesa while waiting for the technology needed to mature. Ron has built a strong and diverse team to L-Pesa with managers in the country that operates in Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda, and the development team in India. There are also the back office team deal with Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda background checks, credit approvals, and customer service. Technology, marketing, and accounting teams operate on a virtual model and consists of experienced staff based in Europe, America, Africa and India.
Website: https://kriptonofafrica.com
Whitepaper: https://kriptonofafrica.com/static/pdfs/L-Pesa_ICO_white_paper_Jan_7_2018.pdf
ANN: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2873068.0
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kriptonlpk
Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/HbNNkBLQJkw7765Ri7tg7w
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LPesaMicrofin
Author: Name - Nemori
My BTT Profile LInk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1661852
My ETH Wallet: 0x39Ce8956Bf500d5D0f4bf07a2F8463B881245b1E
