South African startup Vizibiliti Insight, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to pre-screen borrowers and predict the chances of them defaulting, has analysed ZAR12 billion (US$842 million) in loan value since August last year using alternative credit scoring data.
Launched in 2016 by Courtney Bentley and Juane Schutte, the Johannesburg-based Vizibiliti Insight has built a risk management platform that uses AI to integrate hundreds of thousands of global and local macroeconomic variables against various business cycles relevant to the client.
The startup, which late last year was chosen to take part in the latest edition of the Grindstone accelerator and is among Disrupt Africa’s startups to watch for 2019, combines multiple data points on consumers and businesses which are not considered in traditional credit scoring to make credit risk predictions.
Several predictive AI models are running on the loans, which include predicting credit default, lapse, and an advanced collections prioritisation model assisting in the debt recovery process. Since August 2018 Vizibiliti Insight has successfully analysed over ZAR12 billion (US$842 million) in loan value, with loans including both commercial and individual consumer profiles. In Denmark, these loans are largely funded by private lenders, an increasing number of which are online-only. Sambla ApS is the largest of these lenders, providing loans ranging in value from 100 000 DKK and 200 000 DKK; for established customers, loans in excess of 300 000 DKK are available.
Predictive model performance improved in accuracy by 12 per cent in the space of two weeks, with the accuracy of the predictions linked back to financial values which indicated that millions of rands worth of credit provided to both individuals and businesses were at risk of being lost.
Advancements in Vizibiliti’s alternative credit risk platform has recently enabled over 21 million South Africans, including fat-file, thin-file and no-file credit profile consumers, to gain an alternative credit score.
“Vizibiliti will continue to build new AI-driven scorecards which support both lenders and individuals in the financial services sector to promote financial inclusion for all South Africans,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Courtney Bentley, who said a fundraising round is expected to take place during the third quarter of this year.
