Instant lending for SMEs: CRIF partners with AideXa: innovation to the nth degree

Innovation, speed, transparency, and simplicity are the founding principles of the partnership between AideXa, the successful Fintech project of Roberto Nicastro and Federico Sforza, and CRIF, a global company specializing in credit and business information systems and advanced digital solutions for business development and open banking.

More specifically, the partnership came about to help small businesses access credit.

The Phygital 4X platform of Inventia - a CRIF Group company and one of Europe’s leaders in Digital Onboarding, Video Biometric Recognition and Video Collaboration services - and the information power and analytics of EURISC, the CRIF Credit Reporting System, enable the onboarding of small businesses and the assessment of loan applications in a simple, user-friendly way, and in just a few steps thanks to a fully digital solution. All provided as-a-service through the integration of secure and ready-to-use application programming interfaces (APIs).

More specifically, the Chatbot solution developed by Inventia has made it possible for AideXa to build a smart advisor system for prospects and customers, who can, directly via chat, get more information on the best offer to match their needs or be guided to a customer care operator for second-level support.
At the same time, integration of the SmartID identification solution into the process - thanks to the perfect synergy of a number of technologies including artificial intelligence, biometrics and OCR - simplifies remote identity verification to just a few steps, in compliance with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations and best practices. All this gives small businesses an agile and secure customer experience. After entering only five pieces of information, they can get a response in just five minutes with the amount and conditions offered in a totally transparent way, and, subject to a positive assessment, get the loan within 48 hours.

It is also worth noting that AideXa is a Fintech specifically created to help small businesses develop their company: the aim is to make life simpler for those setting up a business, making the most of the new technologies and opportunities offered by open banking. Today, AideXa is a financial intermediary, and this year expects to become the first Italian Fintech bank dedicated exclusively to small companies and VAT-registered businesses.

The technological spirit and entrepreneurial mindset of the AideXa project blend well with the philosophy of CRIF, founded in Bologna in 1988 and now operating across four continents, offering its clients knowledge, commitment, and passion, helping them grow: together to the next level.

“In a nutshell, our goal is to be a digital bank that simplifies access to credit for small businesses. The integration of CRIF solutions has enabled us to build a fully digital onboarding process. In this way, we have achieved our aim of streamlining the bureaucratic process and making the life of small businesses easier, offering them a simple, fast, and transparent experience using technologies and processes. Through the partnership with CRIF we have also launched ‘X Instant’, a short-term instant loan of up to € 100,000,” commented Federico Sforza, CEO of AideXa.

“We are very pleased to be working alongside an innovative Fintech such as AideXa, in which we recognize the same mission as CRIF to offer innovative, secure solutions with an outstanding customer experience. The onboarding systems, based on artificial intelligence and facial biometrics technologies, are primary assets capable of supporting the entire customer journey, allowing the creation of new business and service models in line with emerging market needs. CRIF has continuous innovation, the use of the most advanced technologies, and a robust information management culture in its DNA. For over 30 years, it has been investing continuously to expand its ecosystem, as demonstrated by the numerous acquisitions of Fintechs and innovative startups (including Inventia and Strands in the last year), and participation in innovation hubs at a national and international level, to enable experimentation and cross-fertilization between different cultural and technological domains,” concluded Elisabetta Pancaldi, Senior Director of CRIF.