00:05.370 --> 00:06.930 Sean Murray: So Hello, everybody. My name is Sean 00:06.930 --> 00:10.200 Murray with deBanked and I'm here with Timothy Li, who is the 00:10.230 --> 00:12.540 CEO of Alchemy. Thank you for being here. 00:12.630 --> 00:13.350 Timothy Li: Thank you, Sean. 00:14.160 --> 00:16.920 Sean Murray: So, Tim, what can you tell me about Alchemy? What 00:16.920 --> 00:19.200 is it? And what is your background in the industry? 00:19.600 --> 00:22.570 Timothy Li: Sure. Thank you, Sean. So Alchemy is an 00:22.570 --> 00:26.050 end-to-end private label lending platform. It's a software I've 00:26.050 --> 00:29.860 been building for the past four years. It is truly end-to-end 00:29.860 --> 00:34.150 from the web and iOS app, mobile app experience from the 00:34.150 --> 00:36.880 customers all the way to the loan origination systems, 00:37.300 --> 00:41.140 decision engine, loan payment systems, and payment gateways. 00:41.770 --> 00:44.410 Most of the time, our customers give us a logo, and we build 00:44.410 --> 00:49.150 everything else out for them. We also have lending as a service. 00:49.210 --> 00:51.310 And I'll explain lending-as-aservice is 00:51.310 --> 00:55.480 essentially software analytics and servicing. We have call 00:55.480 --> 00:58.600 centers. We have an analytics team that can build models for 00:58.600 --> 01:02.020 you guys. And as well as a technology as a centerpiece of 01:02.020 --> 01:07.060 this whole thing. My background was engineer by training, I 01:07.060 --> 01:09.880 worked at Intel Corporation for a couple of years building 01:09.880 --> 01:13.870 microprocessors. And then somehow or another, I landed at 01:13.870 --> 01:16.720 JPMorgan Chase worked there for four years right before during, 01:16.750 --> 01:19.990 after the downturn, consolidated a lot of their technology from 01:19.990 --> 01:25.420 watching mutual Bear Stearns, BNY Mellon into the JPMC family. 01:26.200 --> 01:29.260 That's where I kind of stuck my teeth into banking technology, 01:29.260 --> 01:31.420 right? Back in the days where there weren't any FinTech, it 01:31.420 --> 01:34.900 was banking technology. Then I worked in multiple places, 01:34.900 --> 01:39.790 consulted different FinTech companies. And four years ago, I 01:39.790 --> 01:42.310 realized that, you know, a lot of these larger or even smaller 01:42.310 --> 01:46.660 institutions just can't get their act together to build a 01:46.660 --> 01:49.990 software that's useful, useful, you know, building credit risk 01:49.990 --> 01:54.310 models, that's actually that works. And of course, keep a 01:54.310 --> 01:56.920 compliance driven sort of servicing company as well. So I 01:56.920 --> 02:00.130 created this four years ago, getting a lot of traction. And 02:00.880 --> 02:02.290 then that's where we are today. 02:03.610 --> 02:06.820 Sean Murray: Yeah, it's quite fascinating. So I would imagine 02:07.240 --> 02:10.600 this particular point in history, that you're probably 02:10.600 --> 02:14.710 well positioned. Are banks more receptive because you work with 02:14.710 --> 02:16.570 banks and FinTech lenders? Am I right? 02:17.020 --> 02:17.260 Timothy Li: Yes. 02:17.920 --> 02:20.560 Sean Murray: Are banks more receptive to a service like 02:20.560 --> 02:23.980 yours? Now, perhaps, more than prior? 02:24.470 --> 02:27.680 Timothy Li: That's right. So banks, even before you know 02:27.710 --> 02:30.920 what's happening today, could be for COVID, banks, all what you 02:30.920 --> 02:33.590 know, Lending Club, Prosper, OnDeck and Kabbage, what these 02:33.590 --> 02:37.820 guys have done, banks, credit unions, regionals are all 02:37.970 --> 02:40.670 scrambling a little bit, right. And we've seen the partnership 02:40.670 --> 02:45.320 between JP Morgan Chase, and ODX or OnDeck a couple of years ago. 02:45.500 --> 02:50.060 So the banks were, you know, learning, wondering, right? I 02:50.060 --> 02:53.000 can't say they're scared, they have money and technology. But 02:53.000 --> 02:55.370 what's happening with COVID is that they there's a new sense of 02:55.370 --> 02:57.920 urgency. You know, we have conversations with banks, such 02:57.920 --> 03:01.760 as, hey, Tim, you know, my digital strategy was, you know, 03:01.820 --> 03:04.850 got a 48 month four-year plan and now I got to accelerate 03:04.850 --> 03:07.310 everything into a four month plan. What do we do, right? Do I 03:07.310 --> 03:12.320 build do I lease? Or do I, you know, do I just cry? So we see a 03:12.320 --> 03:15.080 lot of these conversations happening. And for folks that 03:15.440 --> 03:20.210 are bound by their brick and mortar operation, we get calls 03:20.210 --> 03:22.790 like, Tim, you know, my state governor, just shut down of my 03:22.790 --> 03:26.630 stores, because they're deemed to be non essential. What do I 03:26.630 --> 03:29.570 do now? I still want to interact with our customers. Can I go 03:29.570 --> 03:33.140 online? You know, tomorrow. So things like that are happening 03:33.530 --> 03:34.640 on a daily basis. 03:36.980 --> 03:39.680 Sean Murray: So would that have something to do with the product 03:39.680 --> 03:42.740 that came out was recently, I read an announcement about the 03:42.740 --> 03:46.250 first hybrid branch and mobile lending operating system, is 03:46.250 --> 03:47.300 that related to that? 03:47.870 --> 03:50.090 Timothy Li: Absolutely is we were, you know, on a different 03:50.090 --> 03:53.840 warpath, but we we've gotten a lot of calls from brick and 03:53.840 --> 03:56.900 mortar operators saying that, hey, look, my system is good. 03:56.900 --> 04:00.380 It's great. It works in the branch, customer walks, and we 04:00.380 --> 04:03.800 can take cash checks, we can print out checks, we can deal 04:03.800 --> 04:07.220 with the customers, but all the sudden, customers aren't going 04:07.220 --> 04:10.010 to my stores anymore for all the reasons that we know, or my 04:10.010 --> 04:12.860 store has been shut down by local jurisdiction, I still want 04:12.860 --> 04:15.260 to interact back with my customers, I don't have a 04:15.260 --> 04:19.280 website, I don't have a loan origination system. I can't 04:19.400 --> 04:23.240 deliver cash or needed credit to my consumers without my store. 04:23.480 --> 04:26.840 What do we do? So we scrambled, you know, we took about six 04:26.840 --> 04:29.900 months to build a hybrid version of this model where consumers 04:29.900 --> 04:33.020 can apply online, still go to the store and enjoy the 04:33.050 --> 04:36.110 experience if they want to or stick or start the application 04:36.110 --> 04:39.380 in their branch and complete it at home. So we kind of build 04:39.380 --> 04:42.530 this out for many of the brick and mortar operations around the 04:42.530 --> 04:46.850 country to really, you know, save their business in a sense. 04:49.400 --> 04:51.980 Sean Murray: So it seems like you're able to provide a service 04:51.980 --> 04:55.940 to a pretty wide array of different companies, when I hear 04:55.970 --> 04:59.420 like fintech in general, it could mean a lot of different 04:59.420 --> 05:02.990 things right So could you you can work with banks. But could 05:02.990 --> 05:06.530 you work with, say, a an online student lender? Or a small 05:06.530 --> 05:09.980 business lender? Could you? I mean, what, how? How wide does 05:09.980 --> 05:10.790 your reach go? 05:11.110 --> 05:13.210 Timothy Li: That's right. So I'll give you a couple examples. 05:14.500 --> 05:16.600 You know, there's the article, you know, a couple a couple of 05:16.600 --> 05:20.350 months ago that had a tagline of every company is becoming a 05:20.350 --> 05:22.570 fintech company. And that's what we're doing for all these 05:22.570 --> 05:26.350 companies, we have, you know, point of sale, point of sale, 05:26.380 --> 05:29.080 retail companies, right, that can't even imagine themselves 05:29.080 --> 05:31.330 being a fintech company, but with our software, and now they 05:31.330 --> 05:35.860 can lease, rent their service or product, chunk, chunk it up into 05:35.860 --> 05:39.490 12 payments, or, you know, start financing to get more whatever 05:39.490 --> 05:42.220 product and services through the door. So absolutely, we're 05:42.220 --> 05:46.360 working with a lot of student lenders, you know, these online 05:46.360 --> 05:49.180 coding schools that is super, super popular, now you can learn 05:49.180 --> 05:51.940 how to code 12, 18 months, how did they get their stuff 05:51.940 --> 05:54.340 financed? right, they can't go through the traditional way. So 05:54.340 --> 05:57.910 all these coding schools are, are getting on the bandwagon. 05:57.940 --> 06:00.400 And same thing with the home Improvement companies and all 06:00.400 --> 06:03.430 that stuff, right? So they look at what Green Sky has done, what 06:03.910 --> 06:06.640 LendingPoint has done, sometimes they want to do it on their own, 06:06.670 --> 06:10.180 they have the, you know, capacity or the funding, you 06:10.180 --> 06:13.000 know, behind them. So they want to, you know, own that, that 06:13.000 --> 06:15.700 whole experience is small. So our private label software comes 06:15.700 --> 06:18.400 in, and they can act as their own LendingPoint, they can act 06:18.610 --> 06:22.060 as their own GreenSkys in the world. So that's what would be 06:22.060 --> 06:23.290 named enabling them to do. 06:23.710 --> 06:25.480 Sean Murray: So everybody, everybody can be a fin tech 06:25.480 --> 06:25.900 company. 06:26.260 --> 06:27.880 Timothy Li: That's actually right, like, yes. 06:28.240 --> 06:31.000 Sean Murray: So with that said, I mean, where do you see FinTech 06:31.000 --> 06:35.230 going? In general, and I guess, through the lens of what has 06:35.230 --> 06:37.240 happened with the pandemic, you know, where do you, where do you 06:37.240 --> 06:38.710 see it going as a result of that? 06:38.830 --> 06:41.830 Timothy Li: That's right. I don't have a crystal ball, Sean, 06:41.860 --> 06:44.410 you know, if I did, we'll be in a different conversation. But if 06:44.410 --> 06:48.070 you look at what, you know, these tech companies, right, 06:48.520 --> 06:52.660 Microsoft, you know, Facebook, right? All these guys are 06:52.660 --> 06:56.170 venturing into, into, into FinTech as it were because they 06:56.170 --> 06:59.410 have the market share. They have the audience. So where FinTech 06:59.410 --> 07:03.130 is is going is essentially being, you know, ubiquitous in 07:03.130 --> 07:07.090 so many ways, right? tech companies, retail companies, all 07:07.090 --> 07:09.820 these other companies will become FinTech companies, or 07:09.820 --> 07:14.830 FinTech will just be a part of their strategy. The days of no 07:14.830 --> 07:18.430 offense to anybody, but the days of these monolithic LendingClubs 07:18.430 --> 07:22.180 and the Prospers of the world might be over, right? It's all 07:22.180 --> 07:25.450 going to be embedded. Right? That this type of technology 07:25.450 --> 07:28.360 will be embedded in everybody's shop. It wouldn't even be a 07:29.230 --> 07:31.390 thought, you know, it's like, of course, we're gonna have to have 07:31.390 --> 07:34.720 that lending payments, servicing, you know, credit. 07:35.560 --> 07:36.460 That's where I see it going. 07:37.330 --> 07:41.530 Sean Murray: It's pretty mind blowing stuff. Thank you very 07:41.530 --> 07:44.800 much, everybody. That was Timothy Li, CEO of Alchemy. 07:44.830 --> 07:45.700 Thank you for being here. 07:46.030 --> 07:47.350 Timothy Li: Thank you. Thank you very much.