Token: HERO
ICO Date: TBD
Hardcap: 100,000 ETH
‘The Future of Banking in Southeast Asia’
TOTAL 14.5/25
1Business opportunity: 4/5
Hero is a company aiming to assist unbanked people to get financed via the first Mobile 2.0 Pawn Shop located in South East Asia.
They already launched their business (not originally blockchain-based) in 2014 in the Philippines where only 30% of grown-ups own a bank account. They strive for disrupting pawn shops landscape thanks to:
- lower interest rate due to decentralized costs structure vs high interest rate for existing market (physical shops)
- several accepted collaterals (jewelry, electronics, watches, handbags, etc) vs jewelry only for existing market
- free shipping of collaterals vs physical deposits for existing market
They plan to improve their scoring algorithm to provide non-collateralized loans (to individuals and small companies) and finally extend their business in South East Asia.
Regarding blockchain, they only want to leverage basic fintech blockchain features such transparency, efficiency, … and probably cheap and easy fundings via ICO. Nothing amazing here.
Though, this is a very promising fintech company with already a strong track record and a detailed vision for next couple of years.
2Technology: 2.5/5
Hero wants to leverage high access to mobile / internet in South East Asia to build financial scoring to unbanked people: Facebook, Twitter, Ebay, iTunes, etc data may be used on top of collateral to score and allocate the best interest rate to people.
Whitepaper is not technical-oriented. Still, I really like the pragmastism of this idea.
However, one more time, blockchain is more a nice-to-have than a must-have to their business. And their token is not even used to process a loan on their platform. Very disappointing.
3Team: 3/5
A bunch of entrepreneurs coming from banking, fintech and retail. They already proved that they are a solid team since Hero earned several Fintech / start-ups awards in the region and is backed by Ali-Baba.
No blockchain skills spotted here.
4ICO details: 2.5/5
Hardcap: 250,000 ETH for 30% of tokens. I think it is pretty high considering previous ICOs.
Discounts are available during the presale (until 30% for the first participants).
Pre-sale date has not been communicated yet.
Initially, whitelisting procedure was not professional at all (basically DM the CEO on Slack) and original pre-sale date (1st of September) has been postponed officially for auditing needs. Yet, they just came back with a fancy registration platform including KYC process, so they seem to finally be aware of the necessary / expected security standard of ICO as of today.
5Community & Communication: 2.5/5
Slack : 4800
Telegram : 1800
No twitter account
Their medium is used as a FAQ for their ICO.
6Verdict
=> POSITIVE for flipping, NEUTRAL for long-term
Summary
I think Hero is a very promising fintech company with a straight-forward strategy and a clear vision, as well as existing clients and a strong track-record.
Still, I don’t clearly see how blockchain can make this company greater, except for raising cheap funds. HERO token is not even used to process a loan on the platform.
I think Hero can make the buzz as the little bro’ of OMG (still I don’t see the same crypto-success for Hero), so it is worth trying a speculative investment for flipping. I am neutral for long-term.
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