The shift to financing software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies fundamentally altered private credit's risk profile. It moved from lending against hard assets with recovery value (e.g., equipment) to lending against intangible assets, where the recovery value in a bankruptcy scenario could be virtually zero.

While financials are a small part of Grab's revenue, they are crucial for user retention. GrabPay users exhibit 1.5 times higher one-year retention rates than cash users and spend more across other services like rides and deliveries, reinforcing the entire super app ecosystem.

Grab leverages its rich transaction data—like a merchant's daily cash flow or a driver's income—to create proprietary credit scores. This allows it to safely underwrite loans for unbanked individuals and small businesses, a segment traditional banks avoid due to a lack of data.

CoreWeave’s project debt is structured with a "box" system for maximum lender security. Customer payments flow into a controlled account where a waterfall automatically pays for operating expenses and lender debt (principal and interest) before CoreWeave itself receives any profit, minimizing lender risk.

By leveraging a complete financial picture of its users—income, spending, bill payments, and government data—Kaspi's super app can approve 99.9% of loan applications automatically in under six seconds with impressively low default rates.

Kaspi's journey from a conventional retail bank to a dominant tech super app in Kazakhstan was catalyzed by its pre-existing banking license—a valuable and difficult-to-obtain asset in a developing financial market that gave it a unique starting advantage.

With many "Buy Now, Pay Later" (BNPL) services not reporting to credit bureaus, lenders face "stacking" risk where consumers take on invisible debt. To get a holistic view, lenders are increasingly incorporating cash flow data, like checking account trends, into their underwriting processes.

In the cutthroat world of distressed debt, having a reputation as a frequent and fair "repeat player" is a key asset. Other creditors are more likely to collaborate and less likely to act opportunistically if they know they will encounter your firm again, leading to better resolutions.

By eliminating late fees and compounding interest, Affirm removes any financial upside from borrower mistakes. This forces the company's business model to depend solely on successful repayment, demanding superior, transaction-by-transaction underwriting to survive.