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[Editor’s note: This is a guest post from MoneyLion. MoneyLion is a Silver Sponsor at LendIt USA 2016, which will take place...
Diwakar Choubey of MoneyLion speaks with Lend Academy in their last podcast of 2016; MoneyLion is an online lender also offering a financial wellness app; firm has received significant funding in 2016; MoneyLion launched in 2014 with an initial focus on a data decision services platform which later evolved into a full service lending platform; firm currently functions as a balance sheet lender but plans to expand to a hybrid approach in 2017. Source
MoneyLion talks about the evolution of the fintech industry and the rebundling of financial services in their featured blog post; the first wave of fintech was known for its unbundling of traditional financial services by fintech companies; as these companies have achieved success from focused product development, they are now looking to expand services for new verticals and cohesive cross selling; banks are also more broadly diversifying to meet customer needs; MoneyLion also notes API development as a key factor supporting the rebundling of services; the firm has brought together a range of online services that help customers improve their financial health and it sees rebundling as an important trend that will help to support more comprehensive fintech services for clients. Sponsored Blog Post
MoneyLion’s new feature is called Grow Your Stack; will help customers see a visual representation of their account balance as ‘cash’ over the real world; the feature will leverage iOS 11’s ARKit technology; Tim Hong, Chief Marketing Officer at MoneyLion stated, “If I write that you spent $350 on coffee as text, versus if I show you that in terms of a [visual] stack, you may be more likely to change your habits,” he said. “Not everyone learns in the traditional way.” Source
In PeerIQ’s Weekly Industry Update they cover job growth numbers, the Fed’s planned rate rises and more fintech related stories that ended 2017; OneMain Financial received backing from Apollo Global Management and Värde Partners; GreenSky and MoneyLion completed fundraising’s; new regulation news coming out of Indiana that would cap the personal loan interest rates. Source.
MoneyLion has raised $22.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Edison Partners; the company will use the funds to improve and expand its mobile application services; the mobile application currently provides customers with tools and advice for managing their finances; it also provides loans. Source
MoneyLion provides customers with a range of services for managing their finances and also includes credit products; the platform incorporates a unique rewards program that can help customers receive loan discounts and rewards from endorsements and on-time payments; company is a featured applicant in the 2017 Benzinga Global Fintech Awards competition; led by co-founders Dee Choubey, Chee Mun Foong and Pratyush Tiwari, the company raised $650 million in debt financing in September 2016 and $22.5 million in a Series A equity funding round in December 2016. Source
MoneyLion's senior vice president of marketing and product Tim Hong talks about the firm's marketing efforts and customer focus; says the firm was founded on advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence that help it to broaden credit access for customers; also reports that its balance sheet lending helps it to better align with customers; the firm provides a range of credit services for its customers that goes beyond loans; its offerings include credit monitoring services and programs that educate customers while also building a relationship with them that can facilitate credit issuance in the future. Source
Generally banks have the customers but are working with an old tech infrastructure; conversely, fintechs have the new tech, but lack the customers; Tearsheet shares data on how much it costs for large banks and fintech companies to acquire customers and why partnerships often make sense; one personal finance app and lender that is reporting low cost of customer acquisition is MoneyLion; the cost to acquire a customer for them is $5 or less. Source
It has been said many times that the majority of Americans don’t have enough in savings to cover a $500...