Matiss Ansviesulis of CreamFinance
For today’s profile, we are joined by Matiss Ansviesulis of CreamFinance.
Creamfinance LLC, online consumer finance company, was founded in 2012. The mission of Creamfinance is to make money available; this is done by providing consumers with online loans in a convenient and speedy manner.
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Who are you and what’s your background?
My name is Matiss Ansviesulis, and I am an entrepreneur with a background in business and finance. During my studies as well as some time after, I lived in the United Kingdom, where I worked as a Business Analyst at J.P Morgan, an investment management company. Four years ago in 2012, together with my good friend Davis Barons, I co-founded an online consumer finance company – Creamfinance.
What is your job title and what are your general responsibilities?
I am the CEO and Co-founder of Creamfinance. My core responsibility is business strategy development and attracting resources for the company.
Can you give us an overview of your business?
Creamfinance is an online consumer finance company, which was founded at the beginning of 2012. The mission of the company is to make money available; this is done by providing consumer loans online in a convenient and speedy manner. We are working towards becoming a one-click loans provider to consumers globally and our core focus areas are – online, consumer and lending.
Creamfinance puts emphasis on using the most advanced and unique behavioural pattern recognition tools by focusing on relevance and accuracy of data (otherwise also referred to as the smart data approach). Proven by a track record of many consecutive years of successful practice, this is the most effective and cost-optimal approach to assessing creditworthiness of consumers.
Keeping in mind the ever-growing consumer demand for speed and convenience, we plan to make borrowing money online as simple as one click; hence we aim to become the first one-click loans provider to consumers globally.
Tell us how you are funded.
The main source of funds for the company is venture and debt capital as well as specialised debt funding. In 2015 we also raised debt financing from investment funds dedicated to marketplace lending (mintos.com and Blackmoon Financial Group) as well as a public bond issue on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
Why did you start the company? To solve what problems?
We started the business not because we wanted to solve a problem. We simply wanted to become entrepreneurs and the first issue we faced was where to get the financing. That led us to discovering the online loans concept. From there on we decided to build an online consumer finance company that would focus first and foremost on the convenience for the consumer, instead of fancy-sounding Fintech buzzwords. Hence the mission of the company is to make money available and we focus on convenience, the best expression of this is to make borrowing money online as simple as one click. So after four years in business, we are now located in 6 countries across Europe and have hired more than 200 employees.
Who are your target customers? What’s your revenue model?
Our customers are individuals in need of additional money. A great amount of first-time borrowers do so due to an emergency or unexpected expense. The typical borrower is a 25-40 year old employed individual with an average income who uses the service to cover ordinary living expenses and/or unexpected emergencies. On average, customers take a loan worth €200 with the term of 28 days. Up to this point, we have already served nearly 200,000 customers across the markets we operate in.
If you had a magic wand, what one thing would you change in the banking and/or FinTech sector?
If I had a magic wand I would make banks more customer-centric. However on the other hand, that is exactly the area where Fintech steps in and changes the game. If I had an option I would care about SME lending – I think it’s important to make lending easier for small and medium-sized businesses, and I would be happy to see banks understanding the need for it.
What is your message for the larger players in the Finance industry?
To quit the corporate hamster wheel and do something meaningful with your life! Seriously, if I could talk to people working in a bank, I would suggest quitting the job and trying something that you would remember later in life.
What phone are you carrying and why?
I’m using an Iphone 6, simply because it’s better than the previous phone I had, Blackberry. As a typical bank employee I would use Blackberry and I switched to Iphone since my previous phone manufacturer released a new version I was not satisfied with.
Where do you get your industry news from?
From Techmeme, The Wallstreet Journal, and various independent podcasts as well as industry blogs.
Can you list 3 people you rate from the FinTech sector that we should be following on Twitter?
I usually follow Jim Marous (@JimMarous), Duena Blomstrom (@DuenaBlomstrom) and Nasir Zubairi (@naszub). Their thoughts are always insightful, quirky and straight to the point.
Can you suggest the name of an Angel Investor or VC that might be interested in being profiled?
Flint Capital
What’s the best FinTech product or service you’ve seen recently?
It’s Friendsurance, they work with peer-to-peer insurance concept. The concept is definitely interesting.
Finally, let’s talk predictions. What trends do you think are going to define the next few years in the FinTech sector?
It is clear that 2016 will be a successful and profitable year for Fintech. A booming interest in Fintech brings changes, and it is easy to predict that companies will try to be even more customer-oriented, will witness an urge of financial inclusion, and will ensure that cyber space threats do not damage businesses. For more information on our predictions you are also welcome to look at our recently published article, https://www.creamfinance.com/fintech-in-2016/
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Many thanks to Matiss for his answers today. You can find out more about CreamFinance on their website and on twitter.
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