FinTech Credit and Entrepreneurial Growth

Based on automated credit lines to more than two million vendors trading on Alibaba’s online retail platform, we show how the take-up of FinTech credit varies with the entrepreneur’s bank distance. Proximity to the branches of the five largest stateowned banks correlates positively with the take-up of FinTech credit and suggests more severe credit frictions for Chinese e-commerce vendors close to such banks. We use a discontinuity in the credit decision algorithm to document that a firm’s credit approval and credit use boost a vendor’s sales and transaction growth. Entrepreneurial growth after access to FinTech credit is largest for younger e-commerce firms and in the month of first-time credit approval.