For many people, the term “FinTech” might conjure up images of crypto futurists and HODL day traders. But the Dania Beach-based startup OneBlinc challenges this perception. This FinTech company offers financial products aimed at the more than 20% of Americans who, according to the Federal Reserveare unbanked and underbanked.
This week, OneBlinc launched a new Mastercard debit card as well as a new checking account service. The announcement represents an important step in the company’s goal of becoming the “one-stop-shop financial management platform” for this segment of the population, said CEO and co-founder Fabio Torelli. Refresh Miami.
OneBlinc primarily helps these consumers by providing small loans to help them stay afloat until payday. The company profits from these loans, but Torelli says it is an economically advantageous exchange because many consumers would otherwise be forced to pay high overdraft fees or be fined for having insufficient funds in their account. .
Traditional banks consider customers with low credit ratings as subprime borrowers. But these credit calculations are unreliable, Torelli explained: “Don’t believe in credit scores. They are outdated and have many blind spots. He is not alone – this sentiment is shared by a wide range of politicians, think tank pundits and journalists.
Instead, the OneBlinc team has developed a proprietary, machine learning-based algorithm that makes the lending decisions itself. “We assess risk using over 94 APIs, and the whole process runs in just two minutes,” Torelli said. These entries include data related to a person’s employment history, debt ratio, net income, and payroll schedule.
So far, most of OneBlinc’s 15,000 customers are either federal employees or healthcare workers. Their median annual income hovers around $40,000 per year and their credit rating is very low. The startup has customers in 22 states across the United States, with Florida, Georgia, and Texas being their top markets.
The partnership with Mastercard made sense for several reasons. For one, Torelli had worked there as an account manager in his home country of Brazil. He underscored the harmony between the two companies’ overarching goals: “There’s a great match in our belief in challenging the status quo and providing real service to help customers avoid paying predatory fees.”
Half of OneBlinc’s 30-person team are developers. However, Torelli reported that OneBlinc will double the size of its tech team over the next three months.
This growth stems from the company’s ambitious product development strategy. Next on the roadmap? Cash back. In a few days, OneBlinc plans to start offering customers a one to five percent cashback on purchases they make at specific retailers.
Since its launch in 2018, OneBlinc has received $40 million in debt and equity funding from investors in the United States, including Miami, as well as Latin America.
Torelli has been in the Miami area for eight years. Torelli called Miami “the pinnacle” where the East Coast of the United States, the West Coast of the United States and Latin America meet. “Miami is becoming one of the most relevant centers of innovation in the country.”
Photo at top of post: Part of the OneBlinc team, from left: Erik Medeiros (Finance); Marco Moreno (customer success); Julio Berger (data scientist); Ashley Anderson (External Relations). Photos courtesy of OneBlinc.
Learn more about the Miami FinTech scene:
