--- title: The start-up turning township addresses into alternative... description: South African start-up DigiDeeds builds digital records of informal homes and sells the resulting data to banks and credit bureaus. Founded by former Capitec... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-start-up-turning-township-addresses-into-alternative-credit-data-nbnrqk84o twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The start-up turning township addresses into alternative credit data | daily.dev og:description: South African start-up DigiDeeds builds digital records of informal homes and sells the resulting data to banks and credit bureaus. Founded by former Capitec... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-start-up-turning-township-addresses-into-alternative-credit-data-nbnrqk84o og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/nBNrqk84o.png og:image:alt: The start-up turning township addresses into alternative credit data og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The start-up turning township addresses into alternative credit data **[TechCentral](https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary South African start-up DigiDeeds builds digital records of informal homes and sells the resulting data to banks and credit bureaus. Founded by former Capitec credit executive Jaco Carstens, the app launched in March and has over 6,600 members in areas like Khayelitsha, Soweto and Soshanguve. Members get a free digital proof-of-address certificate verified by a selfie, GPS location and confirmation from seven neighbors. Each member generates 26 data points, yielding over 200,000 data points and 40,000 neighbor confirmations so far, built on a Neo4j graph database by Octoco and Polymorph. Carstens says three major banks and three credit bureaus have bought the data to test it. Carstens aims for 125,000 members within 12 months and 500,000 to comfortably reach breakeven. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How does DigiDeeds verify a person's address without a formal title deed? A member takes a selfie and photographs their ID or passport, then drops a pin on their home location which is checked against GPS and GIS mapping. Seven neighbors then confirm the address and whether the person owns, rents, or simply lives there. This produces a free digital certificate called a DigiDeed. _Developers building identity or address-verification flows can follow emerging alternative-verification models like this on daily.dev._ ### What database technology does DigiDeeds use to store township address and identity data? DigiDeeds built its app and database on Neo4j, a graph database, developed by Stellenbosch software group Octoco and its subsidiary Polymorph. The graph structure is reportedly already helping the company identify bad actors and potential fraud within its data on members and their neighbor confirmations. _Engineers evaluating graph databases for fraud detection use cases can track real-world implementations like this on daily.dev._ ### What percentage of South African homes lack a formal title deed? Only 6.9 million of South Africa's 17.8 million homes have a title deed, citing the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa's 2024 yearbook. More than 35 million people are estimated to live in homes outside the formal property system, including informal and RDP homes, backyard rooms, and rural homes on communal land. _Anyone researching financial inclusion data gaps in emerging markets can keep up with figures like these on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Finding the next Sandton](https://daily.dev/posts/finding-the-next-sandton-r9emmzoyx) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Treasury puts R150-million behind MyMzansi government app](https://daily.dev/posts/treasury-puts-r150-million-behind-mymzansi-government-app-filimapgc) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Schreiber publishes draft rules for South Africa’s digital ID system](https://daily.dev/posts/schreiber-publishes-draft-rules-for-south-africa-s-digital-id-system-rmqgsrzu0) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [City Detect, which uses AI to help cities stay safe and clean, raises $13M Series A](https://daily.dev/posts/city-detect-which-uses-ai-to-help-cities-stay-safe-and-clean-raises-13m-series-a-mavs2b85w) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [South Africa’s digital ID is here – but you can’t have it yet](https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-s-digital-id-is-here-but-you-can-t-have-it-yet-1crlb2pmv) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#startup](https://daily.dev/tags/startup), [#fintech](https://daily.dev/tags/fintech), [#neo4j](https://daily.dev/tags/neo4j) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-start-up-turning-township-addresses-into-alternative-credit-data-nbnrqk84o) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"The start-up turning township addresses into alternative credit data","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-start-up-turning-township-addresses-into-alternative-credit-data-nbnrqk84o","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-start-up-turning-township-addresses-into-alternative-credit-data-nbnrqk84o"},"datePublished":"2026-10-26T13:32:23.792Z","dateModified":"2026-10-26T14:03:07.109Z","description":"South African start-up DigiDeeds builds digital records of informal homes and sells the resulting data to banks and credit bureaus. 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