From time to time, The AI Innovator will feature an interesting new AI startup.
This week’s focus is on Worth, a fintech AI platform that automates onboarding and underwriting of small businesses by financial institutions. We caught up with Suneera Madhani, the cofounder and CEO of Worth, to learn more about the business.
The AI Innovator: Tell us about Worth. What problems are you aiming to solve? Who are your target customers?
Suneera Madhani: Worth is redefining the fintech space with our all-in-one platform for underwriting and onboarding. We use AI to streamline complex processes, reducing the time it takes for financial institutions to onboard small businesses. By automating workflows and providing real-time insights, Worth ensures small businesses can access financial services with speed and fairness.
How did you all come up with this business idea? Was there an ‘aha’ moment?
Our journey with Worth began out of frustration and necessity. When starting our first business, we faced endless hurdles navigating manual, inconsistent underwriting processes that didn’t reflect the actual health of my business. Even as we scaled, those barriers remained.
That’s when the lightbulb moment happened: Financial institutions needed better tools to evaluate businesses, and small businesses deserved fairer access to capital. Worth was born to solve these issues with AI-powered insights.
What makes Worth unique compared to other fintech startups that organize internal processes?
Worth is powered by a large database of more than 242 million small businesses, and its all-in-one solution integrates workflow automation, Know Your Business (KYB), Know Your Customer (KYC), Identity Verification (IDV), bank verification, fraud detection and credit underwriting. This enables enterprises to onboard customers quickly and confidently. With deep insights into small business data, Worth accelerates time-to-revenue while fostering a more equitable financial ecosystem where both enterprises and small businesses can thrive.
How does Worth use AI in your solutions?
AI is the backbone of Worth’s offerings. We decided to integrate the technology in a few key areas.
Onboarding and compliance procedures are often tedious and lengthy, but we streamline the process through automation, allowing for accelerated business verification and customer onboarding. Our onboarding API has been designed to be simple and accessible by eliminating documentation and providing real-time updates. Credit risk assessments are performed through continuous monitoring, and we enable businesses to predict portfolio risks and mitigate against unnecessary losses.
By integrating AI, we felt efficiency would be the driving factor, so we designed an AI underwriting tool that eliminates manual entries when collecting customer information. The app also has a built-in chatbot, where the AI underwriter can flag specific concerns for the applicant and obtain additional information when requested.
We have built the platform to ensure we prioritize the needs of our clients. We aim to streamline the complexities of financial institutions through AI-driven solutions that will ensure small businesses are better served and their revenue maximized.
What trends do you see in AI and finance in the coming years?
AI is gradually becoming a daily necessity that extends far beyond the average user. It is evolving and impacting industries across the board. We’re at a unique moment where AI and automation are changing the game and we must adapt. As regulations become more complex, AI becomes essential for automating compliance and managing risks effectively.
Moreover, we recognize clients need to save time. If AI is integrated, it must streamline service offerings. With Worth, for example, we identified the wait times as a result of manual reviews, we then eliminated it and accelerated onboarding and decision-making through AI-powered automation.
Plus, for the industry, I see advancements in AI and quantum technology as pivotal factors in redefining the market. We will see a jump past the limitations of classical computing and a new era for financial services.
What industries does Worth specialize in serving?
We work with a wide range of clients mostly in financial services. We focus on industries needing accurate and fair financial risk management, like banks, fintech companies, and credit unions. We formed a strategic partnership with Equifax, which gives us access to their extensive financial data and analytics such as firmographics, credit attributes and information on business principles for millions of U.S. businesses. This partnership boosts our data capacity and ability to provide more reliable insights and accurate risk assessments for clients.
What’s next for Worth?
As we look ahead, we’re excited about scaling our platform to disrupt the market and build on our innovative AI-driven platform. We’re actively working on improving our services and user experience. We’re committed to innovation and believe we can help shape the capabilities of banks, fintechs, and financial solution providers through AI-powered solutions.
Ultimately, we are scaling financial services to benefit small businesses by empowering the end user and integrating the power of AI to achieve these goals.
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