Get the latest tech news

How PayJoy built a $300M business by letting the underserved use their smartphones as collateral for loans


Lerato Motloung is a mother of two who works in a supermarket in Johannesburg, South Africa. After her phone was stolen, Motloung had to go without a

The company’s mission is to “provide a fair and responsible entry point for individuals in emerging markets to enter the modern financial system, build credit, achieve economic freedom, and access digital connectivity.” PayJoy is applying a buy now, pay-as-you-go model to the estimated 3 billion adults globally who don’t have credit by allowing them to purchase smartphones and pay weekly for a 3- to 12-month period. Ricket says that PayJoy can “enable cheaper credit and … reduce default rates” by using data science and machine learning to underwrite its loans to assess a customer’s creditworthiness.

Get the Android app

Or read this on TechCrunch

Read more on:

Photo of smartphones

smartphones

Photo of loans

loans

Photo of collateral

collateral

Related news:

News photo

UNC System president: We’re seeing the effect of smartphones on our students | Opinion

News photo

U.K. ministers are considering banning the sale of smartphones to under-16s after a number of polls have shown significant public support for such a curb

News photo

Atos Seeks €1.2 Billion in Equity and Debt for Rescue Plan