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So the service seemed like a win-win-win, and to an outside observer, its dual operations in the United States and Kenya appeared to be progressing smoothly. Kiva Zip’s senior director, Jonny Price, sounded upbeat when he wrote on NextBillion in April, “We’re excited by (Zip’s) potential to revolutionize the way that small business owners in America, and the wider world, are able to access microcredit.” Meanwhile, over the past four years, the platform enabled more than 8,000 lenders to make almost 10,000 microloans totalling a reported $1.8 million to more than 6,500 borrowers in Kenya alone.

The crowdfunding industry has emerged in the past few years as one of the most promising alternative financing options. Lending and donating operations accounted for 81% of the crowdfunding industry's $34.4 billion total funding volume in 2015. Kiva Zip, a prosocial program, created an online platform that provides 0% interest peer-to-peer loans and has features in common with lending and donating crowdfunding platforms.