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Shivi Sharma spent a decade working in credit risk at places like American Express and Varo Bank.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
At some point, she realized teams were spending equal amounts of time analyzing all types\u00a0of loans \u2014 regardless of\u00a0whether it was worth $100,000 or $5 million \u2014 meaning assessing smaller loans was\u00a0ultimately\u00a0an\u00a0unprofitable and time-consuming process for lenders.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
She and her husband,\u00a0Utsav\u00a0Shah, realized there was an opportunity here.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe watched as\u00a0the vast majority of\u00a0small business owners\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0access the capital they needed to\u00a0grow, simply because the economics\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0work for banks,\u201d Shah told TechCrunch.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBetween our skills in building AI-powered decision-making systems at scale and our expertise in credit risk and fraud risk assessments in banking in financial services, we realized we could apply next-gen AI agent workflows to solve this decades-old problem,\u201d he continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The married couple decided to launch Kaaj\u00a0in 2024, a company that\u00a0helps\u00a0automate\u00a0credit risk analysis so that underwriting no longer takes days, but minutes.\u00a0Kaaj said\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0processed more than\u00a0$5 billion\u00a0worth of\u00a0loan applications,\u00a0with clients including Amur Equipment Finance and\u00a0Fundr.\u00a0The company announced on Wednesday a $3.8 million seed round from Kindred Ventures and Better Tomorrow Ventures.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The product works like this: A small business applies for a loan,\u00a0submitting\u00a0all the needed documents (like financial statements, bank statements, and tax returns) \u2014 typically, when this happens, underwriters spend days manually verifying all this information and logging it into their Loan Origination System (LOS).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Techcrunch event<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span> Kaaj uses AI\u00a0to\u00a0identify, classify,\u00a0verify,\u00a0and\u00a0organize information into LOS.\u00a0It also runs assessments to check for document tampering\u00a0for the\u00a0underwriter\u00a0fraud team.\u00a0It integrates into\u00a0existing\u00a0Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems like Salesforce,\u00a0HubSpot, or\u00a0Microsoft\u00a0and\u00a0even\u00a0shows a lender\u00a0if a business is meeting the criteria of a\u00a0lender\u2019s\u00a0policy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis allows a team\u00a0processing\u00a0500 applications\u00a0monthly\u00a0to handle 20,000 applications with the same staff, making smaller loans economically viable,\u201d Shah, the company\u2019s CEO, said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The hope is that more small\u00a0businesses will be able to\u00a0access loans from banks because it\u00a0becomes more\u00a0cost-efficient for a bank to\u00a0investigate\u00a0them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Others in the market include\u00a0Middesk,\u00a0Ocrolus, and\u00a0MoneyThumb.\u00a0Sharma\u00a0hopes that\u00a0Kaaj\u00a0will stand out from the competition by\u00a0automating\u00a0the entire credit analysis\u00a0process\u00a0rather than parts of it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe do this by deploying agentic AI workflows that mimic their teams,\u00a0to help lenders analyze end-to-end loan packages,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The fresh capital will be used to help accelerate product development and expand across independent and small business lenders. \u201cWe\u2019re focused on enhancing our AI agent capabilities, expanding our module offerings, and scaling our customer base of lenders and brokers beyond our current footprint.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Overall, Shah\u00a0and Sharma\u00a0hope\u00a0Kaaj can in some ways \u201crevolutionize\u201d small business lending, bringing automation to what is still a very paper-heavy process.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBy automating the science of credit analysis, we\u00a0free up\u00a0human underwriters to focus on the art of deal-making and subjective assessment, which is their true competitive advantage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n