Arad Levertov, CEO of Sunbit, on creating an offline BNPL leader

Today, I welcome back to the show Arad Levertov, CEO and co-founder of Sunbit (I last had him on the show in 2019), one of the leaders in offline buy-now-pay-later. From 2,000 retail locations in 2019 to nearly 30,000 across verticals like auto repair, dental, and veterinary services, Sunbit has achieved tremendous growth. But what I found most impressive is this: a 90% approval rate combined with low single-digit default rates.

Arad reveals the secret behind these remarkable metrics lies not just in sophisticated AI-powered underwriting, but in their holistic approach that includes strategic merchant selection, gamified associate training, personalized offers, and a customer-first philosophy with zero fees. Now serving over 4.5 million customers and approaching $400 million in revenue while reaching GAAP profitability, Sunbit demonstrates how the right blend of technology and human elements can revolutionize offline lending.

In this podcast you will learn:

• The highlights for Sunbit over the last six years.
• Why they have remained focused on the offline space.
• The different verticals they have targeted.
• How their lending process works.
• How they are able to approve 90% of their borrowers.
• Why the key to their success is the associates in the physical stores.
• Attributes of the 10% of borrowers they decline.
• Their average default rate.
• How they decide which merchants to bring on their platform.
• How Sunbit makes money.
• How they are growing their merchant base.
• What their partnership with Stripe looks like.
• How they are partnering with Checkout.com.
• How Arad views the competitive moat he has built at Sunbit.
• What they are doing differently when it comes to collections.
• Their expansion plans for the future.

Connect with Fintech One-on-One:

• Tweet me @PeterRenton
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes