Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller.

We don’t spend a lot of airtime on the podcast talking about what happens behind payments and ecommerce transactions, particularly when it comes to ID verification. It’s technical and more than anything, an enabling technology. But from time to time, we invite on companies that are doing something novel in a way that changes the way the game is played.

Today’s guest is Payfone’s Roger Desai. The company’s raised over $100 million and has corporate investors like Amex, Verizon, TransUnion, MassMutual and Synchrony on the cap table. That’s because Payfone helps make ecommerce - where merchants connect with buyers — as trusted as making a phone call. In a way, Payfone is creating a new form of credit score — what CEO Rodger Desai calls the Trust Score — which is intended to cover almost every adult in the US.

Payfone’s Rodger Desai is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

I’d like to thank our sponsor MX for supporting Tearsheet’s work. MX is the leading data platform for banks, credit unions and fintechs, enabling its clients and partners to easily collect, enhance, analyze, present and act on financial data.