AI is not a moat.
But the possibilities these tools create are endless.
The Fintech space is embracing this new technology and finding new ways to provide access to financial products, improving financial mobility for millions of people.
Beyond access, Fintechs focus on creating a customer experience that transcends traditional banking services through greater personalization, quicker transactions, and a frictionless digital experience.
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, in Fintech is analogous to having a personalized financial guru who works around the clock tirelessly without any complaints. Automating tasks and speeding up decision-making processes, AI transforms the fintech experience for businesses and their customers.
On the front end, developments such as 24/7 customer support chatbots, coupled with personalized recommendations may boost loyalty and customer retention. Through a higher volume of customer interactions, the AI chatbots can then learn to adapt to more domain-specific consumer inquiries and predict the user’s future habits.
For affinity-focused Fintechs, AI-driven chatbots can enable these niche Fintechs to maintain deep relationships in their market segments as they continue to grow.
On the back end, large language models (LLMs) like Cohere have protections in place to make sure financial and personal data stays secure and private.
The feedback loop between customers and the product speeds up as the machine learning component helps provide more fruitful data for teams to work with. This allows teams to understand their user profiles and needs while applying resources more efficiently, leading to better product-market fit over time.
And the adoption of AI in Fintech goes beyond user-focused tools like chatbots.
Examples in our Portfolio
Fintechs in our portfolio have been quick to adopt this new technology to try to unlock a competitive advantage. Here are a few examples of companies in our portfolio that are utilizing emerging AI technologies for their customers' benefit.
At Lunch, AI has become integrated with the team's daily operations. Lunch is an embedded finance solution that enables businesses to get paid faster for their invoices. Each team member is equipped with GPT-4 to support daily task completion; this includes revising marketing material and building unit tests for segments of code. Here, AI expands the efficiency of independent team members and equips the company with the latest tools for maximum efficiency.
Another example is Conduiit, a platform designed to offer a one-stop shop for payroll, insurance, accounting, and communications in film and TV productions. The team is working on creating AI tools to help users find public information on the Conduiit website, reducing errors in wire transfers, for example.
The scope for use cases goes much further than this and previously would have required multiple API plugins, historical data, and a lot of leg work.
As the “Fintech+” wave of embedded fintech solutions continues to gain momentum, efficiencies demonstrated by Conduiit and Lunch are just the starting point. These B2B companies will be able to stay personalized and “hands-on” at scale, which will have a big impact on the financial services industry.
Machine learning algorithms can be trained on large datasets to find trends that help Fintechs make more informed decisions about credit risk or fraud detection as well.
Between services that help detect fraud, chat with customers, and automate tasks, AI is here to add an additional layer to Fintech platforms. Systems that already work well will likely function even better with this technology as tedious tasks become automated and customers gain clearer insights about their financial activities.
The Broader AI/Fintech Ecosystem
Many companies in the broader ecosystem have also begun launching AI-powered software solutions within financial settings.
Zest AI empowers financial service providers to conduct enhanced risk profiling and credit modeling. Through the use of machine learning, the organization enables companies to strengthen approval rates, reduce credit losses, and improve underwriting procedures.
AI in underwriting not only improves risk assessment but also promotes financial inclusivity by offering credit opportunities to underserved individuals all while reducing risk and losses for companies.
A more familiar name in the Fintech space is Stripe, a leader in the space that has recently adopted Open AI’s GPT-4 for a wide range of tasks.
Stripe leverages this powerful AI tool (GPT-4) to help detect fraud within support forums like Discord. They also use the tool as a virtual assistant that is capable of answering technical questions or troubleshooting issues.
April is a “tax engine” that uses AI and machine learning to examine tax codes and automatically analyze tax forms to personalize filings.
With the power of AI, the platform has helped thousands of Americans file their taxes in an average of 15 minutes, allowing them to access millions of dollars in refunds.
Beyond the examples we have already seen in the market, we expect many more products to come in this age of AI expansions and integration.
Summary
At Fiat, we are excited to see how AI shapes the financial landscape over the coming years as we meet new teams aiming to bridge these two sectors.
We invest in companies and founders that spark a positive change in the lives of the people they serve. This value makes us eager to support products that use AI to more effectively shape these differences.
Ultimately, we believe that AI should elevate the Fintech landscape and help make the lives of consumers easier.
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