Insider Brief
- Cascading AI, a fintech startup from Stanford University and Y Combinator alumni, raised $3.9 million in pre-seed funding to advance AI in the global banking industry, with its flagship product Casca, an AI-native Loan Origination System.
- Casca, powered by an AI Loan Assistant named Sarah, significantly improves the loan application process with immediate responses and guidance, resulting in nearly 3x higher conversion rates and a 90% reduction in manual back-office work.
- The funding, led by Peterson Ventures and supported by Y Combinator and others, will fuel the expansion of Cascading AI’s engineering team, accelerate Casca’s development, and enhance responsible AI capabilities to onboard more banks.
PRESS RELEASE — SAN FRANCISCO/February 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Cascading AI, a cutting-edge fintech startup founded by alumni of Stanford University and Y Combinator, is thrilled to announce the successful completion of its $3.9 million pre-seed funding round to unlock $1 trillion in value of advanced AI for the global banking industry
Casca, the flagship product of Cascading AI, is revolutionizing the lending landscape as the first AI-native Loan Origination System.
“The real game changer is our AI Loan Assistant, Sarah,” says Lukas Haffer, CEO of Cascading AI. “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.”
Casca is already showing results by achieving nearly 3x higher conversion rates and reducing manual effort in the back office by 90% compared to traditional methods.
“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.”
The pre-seed funding round was led by Peterson Ventures, a renowned investor in the vertical SaaS sector known for identifying disruptive startups. Additional participation came from Y Combinator, The Sarah Smith Fund, and Clocktower Technology Ventures, who share Cascading AI’s vision for the future of banking.
The fresh capital infusion will enable Cascading AI to:
- Expand its team of world-class AI and machine learning engineers
- Accelerate the development of the Casca product
- Enhance its human-in-the-loop, responsible AI capabilities
- Onboard a select group of new banks
“Our mission for the last four months was to build a system that actually brings AI into reality, is useful and fully compliant for one bank and solves problems for them,” Haffer said. Now the company is focused on scaling up the Bankwell installation and onboarding two more banks.
About Cascading AI
Cascading AI makes banking magical by accelerating the loan application and loan origination process using AI. Casca automates time consuming tasks in loan origination, utilizing breakthroughs in generative AI technology to dramatically reduce the loan cycle time and increase efficiency. Casca is built upon responsible AI practices, including human-in-the-loop monitoring. For more information, visit cascading.ai
