4 Reasons Why LendLedger is Driving Lending Innovation

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LendLedger Blog

3 min readAug 6, 2018

Whilst blockchain is still a novel concept, new and exciting blockchain- based lending projects are springing up with increasing frequency… So “What makes LendLedger special?” is a question the LendLedger team has seen arise with increasing frequency. Luckily, the answer is simple: LendLedger combines a powerful mission and established network which is incredibly easy to adopt.

1 — We’re driven by our mission to advance financial inclusion

There are blockchain-based lending businesses out there doing everything, from turning your crypto into liquid assets to provide loan collateral, to enabling peer-to-peer lending on chain. LendLedger, however, is not about crowding the industry with yet another player, it’s about bringing existing players onto a single platform to create a lending market which is fully inclusive. Indeed, LendLedger’s unique mission is to solve the $2 trillion funding gap which exists for 200+ million small businesses globally who are excluded from the financial system, and through our network, we have an opportunity to make an impact on an unprecedented scale.

2 — We are an established emerging market leader

Blockchain technology is novel. That’s a fact. The Stellar platform which LendLedger is built on was only itself conceived in 2014. With this in mind, most blockchain-based lending businesses have been created from scratch, garnering their customer base as they go along. Not LendLedger. Not only do we boast a team of fintech professionals who have operated in the MSME lending space for 25+ years, LendLedger is also built out from an existing and operating business, Happy Loans.

Created by the LendLedger co-founders Gautam Ivatury and Manish Khera in 2017, Happy Loans is already powering loans at a run-rate of $30 million per year. Having worked in emerging markets fintech, Gautam and Manish regularly came face to face with the problem that lies at the core of the LendLedger mission: that hundreds of millions of small business owners who should be eligible to borrow money are unable to get vetted by established lenders due to fragmented or unverifiable credit data. Gautam and Manish used the same, formerly untapped, borrower data which powers the LendLedger platform to make loans through Happy and are currently doling out about $100,000 per day to those underserved populations.

3 — LendLedger is exceptionally easy to adopt

Whilst some of us at LendLedger may be crypto evangelists, those using our platform don’t need to be. Think of the processes which take place on the LendLedger network as “plumbing”. Just as you never see the pipes which allow your life, and your city, to function, the same is true for those using the LendLedger network’s LOANtoken and LedgerCredit. LendLedger’s Lenders and Borrowers still transact in fiat, so they don’t need to trouble themselves with token mechanics. This significantly lowers barriers to adoption in emerging markets.

4 — We are backed by some of the industry’s strongest leaders

The LendLedger team has decades of experience in the emerging market lending space. Co-founder Gautam has been an innovator in emerging market fintech since 2002, with founding or CXO roles at SKS Microfinance, Gates Foundation-funded CGAP Technology Program, Signal Point Partners, Jipange Kusave, MeraDoctor, and ArthImpact. Similarly LendLedger co-founder Manish was a founder or CEO at Fino PayTech, YTS, Airtel Payments Bank, and ArthImpact. He is also a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.

Beyond our leaders’ expertise, core to the LendLedger philosophy is to engage the most prominent industry thought leaders to continuously set the bar higher. That’s why LendLedger has a growing number of experts from global bodies, banks and payment networks on board, occupying roles of partners, advisors, and most importantly, Community Experts ! So far we’ve proudly welcomed Akanksha Hazari, Matteo Marinelli, Ashish Desai, Ben Lyon and Nicole Van Der Tuin. Placing these thought leaders into prime positions in the LendLedger community will help us improve and innovate as we scale. We plan on welcoming many more inspiring individuals into the fold in the coming months.