Ex-Skype exec joins $1m round of fintech startup Jeff

Latvia-based fintech startup Jeff said it has raised US$1 million in a financing round led by the Estonian Business Angels Network (EstBAN) syndicate.

Also joining the round were Estonia-based firm Startup Wise Guys, Taavi Tamkivi (ex-TransferWise and Skype exec), certain Nordic investors, as well as angel backers from Estonian mobility unicorn Bolt.

Photo credit: Jeff

By integrating data sources and leveraging the customers’ digital footprint, Jeff produces a unified credit score to help both lenders and borrowers.

Borrows are onboarded by the Jeff chatbot and then are asked to submit the data needed to begin applying for a loan. Users are screened with multiple lenders simultaneously. The more data users add, the more products and services they can receive.

On the lender side, Jeff’s business-to-business toolkit is designed to provide lenders with leads and additional insights.

The app is already live in Vietnam, where it claims it has serviced more than 300,000 users.

With the new funds, Jeff will launch and scale new products, ranging from a free credit score and insurance offers, to digital discount coupons and mobile wallet cashbacks. It will also expand across Southeast Asia, starting with Indonesia and the Philippines in 2021.

“One thing we learned about emerging Asian markets is that there is an incredible opportunity on the B2B side, as the API infrastructure is not as developed as we had anticipated. We are actively developing our lender toolkit, which includes a bank portal and a lender API,” said Toms Niparts, co-founder and CEO of Jeff.

Moving forward, the firm aims to develop into a financial super app that offers a range of products besides loans, such as insurance and mass-adopted digital credit scores, and go beyond finance by adding a range of utility functions, Niparts added.