Kashin

Avinash Sukhwani looked at the Peruvian informal economy—29 million people who don't exist to traditional banks because they have no credit history, no payslips, no collateral—and said "I'll take that." He brought serious firepower: ex-Rocket Internet, ex-BCG, and degrees from Cambridge, MIT, and Imperial College London. Now he's building Kashin, an AI-powered lending platform that's already deployed over 1 million loans in Peru and hit nearly $2M in annualized revenue with 10K users. Not bad for a country where banks refuse to serve half the population.

Kashin's secret weapon is their proprietary risk model that processes 250+ variables from a user's smartphone and credit bureau data. They approve loans up to S/800 (roughly $215) for motorcycles, phones, business inventory, work equipment, and education. Small loans, but they add up—over 1 million of them. They've already helped 29,000+ Peruvians, and they're registered with the SBS (Superintendencia de Banca y Seguros), which means they're legit, not some fly-by-night predatory lender. They even refund up to 50% of interest to borrowers who pay on time—aligned incentives that actually work. The informal economy is a $150 billion opportunity in Peru alone, and Kashin is the first ones actually capturing it. They're in Lima and looking to scale.