Most fintechs are highly efficient: they operate online, with no costly physical infrastructure. They launch, unencumbered by the legacy costs shouldered by their old-economy competitors, whose business they aim to steal.
Starting from scratch also offers technological advantages: their infrastructure is more up to date and the user experience is typically much better.
But, by and large, it is the very low cost base that gives them a competitive advantage: disruption comes from stripping out the fees that the previous generations of businesses levied to pay for their physical infrastructure.
There is, however, a subset of fintechs that now face having to get their hands dirty with bricks and mortar.
Creditas, the Brazil-based, SoftBank-backed secured-lending unicorn valued at $1.75
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