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.