A lending platform based in London has won funding from Ukrainian FinTech fund N1.
SteadyPay is an AI-based solution which analyses open user data to predict their creditworthiness.
According to these forecasts, it then tops up the bank account of a trusted and reliable platform user if their earnings fall below the average monthly income.
N1 is among the investors in a £2.5 million seed round. European venture funds including Ascension and The Future Fund have already invested.
The startup was founded by John Downie, who has spent most of his career developing technical solutions for banks, and Ivan Istomin, who is from Ukraine.
Istomin is an experienced payment and retail lending entrepreneur. “We see the huge demand for the integration of the SteadyPay lending platform under the [white-labelled] branding of neobanks and marketplaces for customers who are asking for financing,” he said.
The algorithm calculates how much money can be loaned to a particular client. The average monthly replenishment per person is about £250, and the maximum balance a user can have on SteadyPay at any given time does not exceed £1,000.
The platform operates on a subscription model and currently has 12,000 active users, most of whom are between the ages of 22 and 40.
“We have seen a progressive lending product for the new generation, backed by well-built AI technology. It’s great that Ukrainians worldwide are involved in creating innovations,” said Nykyta Izmailov, CEO and founder of N1.
“It makes one want to invest in such startups. The decision was unanimous within the team.”