Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Silicon Valley startup Crowdz has grown its SME customer base from 450 to 25,000. The Barclays backed company leverages blockchain to provide an SME invoice auction marketplace where banks can bid and provide trade finance. Its popularity is hardly surprising given the cash shortage triggered by the pandemic. On the upside, it does not bear the risks.
The company is about to launch in the UK and, in preparation, is participating in tests in the UK FCA regulatory sandbox.
Additionally, today the firm announced the launch of the Crowdz SMARTSCORE, a new risk assessment tool from Wiserfunding founded by NYU Stern professor Edward Altman. The Wiserfunding Z-Score model claims to have a 95% default prediction accuracy for companies with revenues from £500,000 to £200 million ($262 million).
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