Cascading AI (YC S23)

That feeling when McKinsey writes a paper on “the 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 of GenAI” and they describe 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗰𝗮. 🚀🚀🚀 https://lnkd.in/geJG_Ebi

🚀 🚀 Wuhuu - we are featured on this week's Finovate podcast! LINK in the description. 1. Banks have been using Machine Learning in LOAN ORIGINATION for some time, but so far it has been focused on decision making. This misses the mark: 80% of time is spent in document collection with loan officers writing manual reminder emails to fill the loan file "Hey, we still need your 2022 tax returns." 2. Small business lending is ripe for INNOVATION: predatory online lenders have been charging small business owners 25-45% interest rates and community banks have been struggling with slow application processes. Better technology can fix that. 3. Early adopters of our AI-powered LOS are seeing big results already: 3x higher conversion rates (i.e., applicants finishing the whole application) and 90% lower manual effort through automation especially in SBA 7(a) loan processes. Excited to see how Cascading AI (YC S23) can help more and more community banks to supercharge their small business lending processes. Greg Palmer Justin Norwood Isaiah Williams Serhii Serhii Elliott Chong Ahmad Akhrass #sba #lending #loanorigination #startup #ycombinator #stanford #ai

Day two of Finovate Spring 2024 was a hit at the Marriott Marquis, SF! 🌟 From groundbreaking tech demos to insightful keynotes, innovation took center stage. And congrats to Cascading AI (YC S23) for winning the Demo Best of Show award! 🏆 👉 Full recap: http://spr.ly/6042dN8H4 #FinTech #MobilePayments #genz #finovate #finovatespring

We did it, friends! We won Best of Show at FinovateSpring 2024 - more than 1,200 attendees and 300 financial institutions were represented. How did we get here? 1. Solve a REAL PROBLEM: After months of quietly working with more and more banks the verdict is in - we have proven a huge opportunity to improve SBA, USDA & small business lending and Cascading AI (YC S23) has over night become the new technology leader, as the first AI-native Loan Origination System beating legacy systems. 2. Build something PEOPLE WANT / NEED: Investors often ask me what things we want to build next - the truth is we don't build what WE want, the last 6 months of development were 100% focused on solving one loan officer & underwriter problem after another. Here are some examples: - 63% of loan applicants apply outside of banking hours (nights and weekends), so we built an AI Loan Assistant that can respond to inquiries around the clock - 80% of loan officer time is spent chasing applicants to collect documents and complete a loan file, so we built a secure applicant portal and 40+ integrations to pull together a rich loan file with 0 effort for the loan officers - now, as we are seeing up to 10x increases in full loan applications, the next 2 challenges are clear - automate loan servicing (portfolio mgmt., payments, annual risk reviews) and allow easy deposit account opening in one smooth Casca flow (we already collect 90% of the necessary data and banks really want to grow deposits alongside their loan portfolio) 3. BE BOLD: Many people told us that our ideas were big - maybe too big for a young company. But we were convinced - AI has changed the game - not only will smart banking leaders replace all legacy banking software with AI-native systems, we can also use AI ourselves to develop 10x faster than people ever could. I am incredibly excited for the future of lending and the future of banking. A huge THANK YOU to my amazing co-founder, Isaiah Williams, our brilliant team, investors, partners, customers and everyone who has been hyping us up over the past few months! Justin Norwood, Serhii Nechyporchuk, Elliott Chong, Ahmad Akhrass, ilana stern, Sarah Smith, Nik Milanović, Ryan H., Bankwell, Jaimin Desai, This Week in Fintech, The Fintech Fund 🚀, Clocktower Ventures, Peterson Ventures, Simon Taylor, Angela Strange, Jonathan Awad, Jelena Zec, Finovate, Greg Palmer, Gordon Brott, Bill Merz, Jocelyn W., Rian I., Olga Chumanskaya, Saffron Quinn #loanorigination #software #lending #ai #sba #fintech #ycombinator #startup #stanford #finovate

FinTech Futures recognized Cascading AI as a company leading the way toward the future of credit! "Cascading AI (YC S23) launched Casca, its AI-native loan origination system, which can automate much of the loan application process—traditionally a manual-intensive process. The fintech employs an AI loan assistant, Sarah, who can guide applicants through the entire application process. Cascading AI claims Casca is already showing results by achieving nearly three times higher conversion rates and reducing manual effort in the back office by 90% compared to traditional methods." To see Casca in action, meet us at Finovate on May 22nd! Lukas Haffer Isaiah Williams Justin Norwood https://lnkd.in/ecpQbv7x #credit #banking #financialservices #ai #responsibleai #fintech

Andreessen Horowitz highlighted Cascading AI (YC S23) as an example of how GenAI is changing financial services. “Why does it cost $10,000 to originate a mortgage? Why does it sometimes take weeks to go through the know your business (KYB) process or to get an SBA loan?” We agree - generative AI allows us to: - automatically collect & analyze documents (bank statements, tax returns, ...) - reactivate churned applicants and conversationally guide them through the application process (via E-Mail and SMS) - automatically create financial ratios (e.g., DSCR), analyze deals and write credit memos Banking is changing forever. Early adopters of AI are seeing huge gains (3x increase in conversion rates ... 10x increase in processed loans) ... and late adopters ... better get started. Isaiah Williams Justin Norwood #banking #AI #stanford #ycombinator #lending #loanorigination #sbaloan #loanoriginationsystem

Please join us in welcoming Justin Norwood, our new Chief Market Officer at Cascading AI. Prior to joining Cascading, Justin served as VP of AI and Data at nCino where he led Al and data strategy globally and directed the company’s most strategic Al and data partnerships. Welcome, Justin! ✨

Congrats to the team at Cascading AI (YC S23) on the $3.9M pre-seed! Casca, the flagship product of Cascading AI, is revolutionizing the lending landscape as the first AI-native Loan Origination System. It uses AI to automate time-consuming tasks in loan origination, utilizing breakthroughs in generative AI technology to dramatically reduce the loan cycle time and increase efficiency. It's already showing results by achieving nearly 3x higher conversion rates and reducing manual effort in the back office by 90% compared to traditional methods.

Wow, we got an exclusive in American Banker - featuring our first LIVE customer Bankwell, with an interview of their Chief Innovation Officer, Ryan H.. I feel so lucky, working with the amazing team at Bankwell - improving small business lending processes for entrepreneurs across the East Coast. "We've just seen tremendous success with Casca, even in the first months," said Ryan Hildebrand, Chief Innovation Officer at Bankwell Bank, Casca's first customer. "Casca helps bring leads that are five or six times the quality of what was coming in through organic marketing." We are going to start onboarding new banks onto our AI-native Loan Origination System in March - early results have been crazy - applicants and loan officers love our AI Loan Assistant, Sarah. "Imagine a small business owner applying for a loan on a Friday evening and waiting 72 hours for a response from a loan officer. With Casca, they receive an email response within minutes from Sarah - who leads them through the entire application process. Sarah is infinitely patient and infinitely kind; every loan applicant receives the care and attention they deserve." Let me know if you wanna chat. Cascading AI (YC S23) - Isaiah Williams Serhii Nechyporchuk Elliott Chong Justin Norwood #sba #smallbusinessloans #bankinginnovation #startup #ycombinator #stanford #loanorigination

We did it, friends! Closed our $3.9M pre-seed funding round from top fintech and generalist investors to build the first AI-Native Loan Origination System 🚀 How did we get here? - THREE MONTHS of quietly building: from 100s of interviews with banking CEOs, CTOs & CIOs we went through countless iterations of a truly 10x better loan origination experience, starting with small business lending. - INCREDIBLE PARTNERS on board: from our first investors at Peterson Ventures and Y Combinator, to our angels and advisors (like Simon Taylor and Justin Norwood), and our first users & partners at Bankwell (Ryan H., Gordon Brott, Bill Merz, & many more) all have been instrumental in helping us shape this Banking AI platform. - ONE CLEAR MISSION to turn AI from a buzzword on a slide to reality for banking: The last generation of banking technology is 15-30 years old, these systems are due for a reboot and everyone knows it. But bringing compliant AI into a heavily regulated sector requires more than just coding. It’s a paradigm shift, and an opportunity to make an impact in a sector ripe for innovation. A Heartfelt THANK YOU: To our investors and customers, thank you for believing in our vision. To my co-founder Isaiah Williams and our incredible team – your brilliance and dedication are the heart of Cascading AI (YC S23). And to all of you who've supported and inspired us along the way – we’re just getting started. Lead Investor: Peterson Ventures (ilana stern) Joining the Journey: Y Combinator, Clocktower Ventures, Sarah Smith, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, The 23 Fund, MBA Ventures, Olive Tree Capital, Litquidity Media, and amazing individuals like Simon Taylor, Nick E., and Sigalit Perelson. Elliott Chong & Serhii Nechyporchuk Here's to the future of banking – smarter, faster, and powered by AI. 🌐 #bankinginnovation #ai #stanford #ycombinator #fintech #startup