LendAPI Podcast

In this episode, host Timothy Li (CEO, LendAPI) sits down with Utsav, founder and CEO of Kaaj, to talk about how AI is helping banks, credit unions, and independent finance companies underwrite small business and equipment loans in minutes instead of days.

Utsav spent a decade in data science and machine learning at Snapdeal, Uber, and Cruise, where he built systems making high-stakes decisions in milliseconds. He co-founded Kaaj with his wife, Shivi, a fintech fraud and credit risk veteran. Today, more than $20 billion in deals flow through the platform each year. The conversation covers the Delhi-to-San Francisco journey, becoming a first-time dad five weeks ago, and why the next generation of small business owners won’t wait months for an SBA loan.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why a $50K loan takes lenders as long to underwrite as a $5M loan, and why that makes small deals “unprofitable”
• How Kaaj cut underwriting turnaround at some lenders from 8-10 business hours to about 20 minutes
• How AI reads bank statement PDFs, tax returns, and screenshots, so a trucker can send a photo and a note from the road
• What 200+ parameters per deal mean: financials, fraud, owner credit, and equipment data analyzed in one pass
• Why traditional lenders, with a lower cost of capital, can beat fintechs on rate if they modernize
• Why equipment finance is hard to automate: the business, owner, asset, and location all need underwriting
• Why self-driving car simulations inspired Kaaj’s approach to training on edge cases, and why veteran underwriters’ gut instinct still matters
• Why the average small business owner is getting younger, and what that means for lender expectations

About Kaaj
Kaaj is an AI underwriting and workflow platform for small business and equipment lenders, helping banks, credit unions, and independent finance companies analyze deals, flag risk, and make faster decisions. Kaaj is a partner on the LendAPI Marketplace.

Learn more: https://www.kaaj.ai
Explore the LendAPI Marketplace: https://www.lendapi.com/marketplace

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In this episode, host Timothy Li (CEO, LendAPI) talks with Ty Wittman of Pulse about why banks still read documents by hand, why template-based OCR was never going to solve it, and what it takes to extract data from a commercial loan packet with confidence a credit committee can actually trust.

Ty grew up in Iowa, studied computer science, and fell into banking through an IT role at a local bank, working alongside the nCino, Salesforce, Q2, and Temenos ecosystems before landing in document AI. He and Tim cover why legacy cores persist, how vision language models read documents the way a human does, and why unstructured documents may hold 60-70% of a company's data.

What You'll Learn:

• Why banks stay on legacy systems: reliability, security, auditability, and trust matter more than novelty
• Why consumer lending automates first while $30M+ commercial deals still depend on manual reading and spreading
• How vision language models replace brittle OCR templates by understanding layout, footnotes, handwriting, scans, charts, and tables
• Why "95% accurate" isn't accurate in lending, and why every extracted value needs a confidence score and a traceable source (page, table, cell)
• How cross-page context catches conflicts, like income figures on one page and adjustments three pages later
• Why the same approach reaches oil and gas well logs, mineral rights records, and data center construction financing
• Why AI-generated bank statements and forged checks are now a real risk, and why document provenance and metadata matter
• Why specialized, contextual models in financial services beat a general LLM with no domain knowledge

About Pulse
Pulse is a document AI platform that extracts structured, auditable data from complex financial documents with field-level confidence scores and source traceability, built for regulated industries like banking and lending. Pulse is a partner on the LendAPI Marketplace.

Learn more: https://runpulse.com

Explore the LendAPI Partners: https://www.lendapi.com/marketplace
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In this episode, host Timothy Li (CEO, LendAPI) talks with Amr, founder and CEO of Neumetria, about why a three-digit credit score is a fundamentally broken way to represent a person's financial life — and why every dollar you earn deserves better context than "restaurant" or "travel."

Amr's path runs from capital markets at Bank of America to co-founding Marlin, a hedge fund prime brokerage that pioneered same-day performance reporting and multi-custodian account structures years before the 2008 financial crisis proved how valuable that flexibility could be. That same obsession with context — understanding the full picture behind a number — is what led him to build Neumetria, recently selected for the 2026 Mastercard Lighthouse accelerator.

What You'll Learn:

• Why a credit score can drop when you pay off debt, and why that reveals a deeper flaw in how creditworthiness gets measured
• How Neumetria builds a multi-dimensional "financial state" instead of a single score — covering income quality, obligations, discipline, and capacity
• Why the same $50 restaurant charge can mean two completely different things depending on whether it's a weekly routine or a first-time splurge
• How savings behavior and "spend compression" (how fast someone can cut discretionary spending in a hardship) reveal financial resilience that a bank statement alone can't show
• Why Neumetria deliberately withholds a number when its confidence isn't high enough, rather than manufacturing one anyway
• How this approach applies to agentic payments — giving AI agents a real sense of a user's spending capacity before they transact on someone's behalf
• Why the AI Act and other emerging regulations make explainable, bias-aware financial modeling non-negotiable, not optional

About Neumetria
Neumetria builds a multi-dimensional "financial state" for consumers — going beyond a single credit score to model income quality, spending discipline, savings behavior, and capacity — so lenders can make more accurate, more human underwriting decisions. Founded by Amr, a former Bank of America capital markets executive and co-founder of hedge fund prime broker Marlin, Neumetria was selected for the 2026 Mastercard Lighthouse accelerator.

Learn more about Neumetria: https://www.lendapi.com/marketplace/neumetria

Explore the LendAPI Marketplace: https://www.lendapi.com/marketplace

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In this episode, host Timothy Li (CEO, LendAPI) catches up with Jackie of MOOV — a single-API payment processor connected directly to the Fed, Visa, and Mastercard — live from FinTech DevCon in Denver, a developer-only conference with no sales pitches allowed.

Jackie walks through what MOOV actually does (moving money across cards, ACH, and instant payment rails through one integration, without ever rebranding a client's checkout experience), why instant payments are becoming the default expectation rather than a nice-to-have, and how her own path from Amex's retention desk to commercial real estate to SaaS eventually led her back to the payments industry her father spent 40 years in.

What You'll Learn:

• How MOOV's single-API model lets businesses start with card acceptance and add instant payments later without a re-implementation
• Why instant, real-time payment rails (FedNow, push-to-debit) are becoming the expectation, not the exception
• MOOV's philosophy of staying invisible infrastructure — letting businesses own their brand and payment experience rather than putting MOOV's name on the checkout
• What FinTech DevCon looks like when engineers, not salespeople, staff the booths — and why that changes the kind of conversations that happen
• Jackie's reframe for handling sales rejection: hearing "no" as "not right now," and how that mindset shift is teachable
• Why she prioritizes in-person relationships and dinners over calls and texts, and the deliberate way she uses group meals to let partners sell each other
• How 15 years of coaching youth basketball and mentoring young women in tech shaped her approach to building trust with clients and colleagues

About MOOV
MOOV is a single-API payment processor with direct connections to the Federal Reserve, Visa, and Mastercard, built to make it simple for businesses of any size to accept payments and move money — from card acceptance to real-time and instant payments — without switching providers as their needs grow. MOOV hosts FinTech DevCon, an annual developer-focused fintech conference held in Denver, Colorado.

Learn more: https://moov.io

Explore the LendAPI Marketplace: https://www.lendapi.com/marketplace

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In this episode, host Timothy Li (CEO, LendAPI) talks with Simon of FinWise Bank Corp about what actually happens behind the scenes of a bank-fintech sponsorship — why some fintechs get onboarded and others get turned away, why high-interest short-term loans aren't always the villain they're made out to be, and why so many Buy Now, Pay Later companies are racing to get their own bank charters right now.

Simon's path runs from Paris to McGill University to Cross River Bank to FinWise, where he's spent nearly a decade building out the bank's fintech sponsorship and payments infrastructure. He and Tim get into the real economics of subprime lending, what a "dream" fintech partner looks like from a bank's perspective, and why owning your own charter isn't the shortcut some fintechs think it is.

• Why high-interest short-term loans, while expensive, can be genuinely life-changing for subprime borrowers — and why overdraft fees are often the worse alternative
• What FinWise actually evaluates before onboarding a fintech: product design, compliance depth, founding team, and access to capital
• Why some sponsor banks onboard 30+ fintechs a year while others do fewer than 10 — and why "fintech as a gold mine" thinking burned banks in 2020-2021
• How FinWise built "Money Rails," an API-based payment hub with full sub-ledger tracking, after watching banks get burned by not owning their ledger of record
• Why the credit and debit card markets are largely saturated, and where the real innovation opportunity still exists (credit-building products, early wage access)
• Why BNPL companies are rushing to apply for their own bank charters now — and why Simon thinks most of them are building for today's lighter regulatory environment, not tomorrow's
• How the "Big Beautiful Bill's" equipment depreciation rules and student lending caps are reshaping commercial and student lending opportunities

FinWise Bank enables fintechs to bring innovative financial products to market through a comprehensive suite of banking, lending, payments, and card solutions. As a single banking partner for multiple fintech needs, FinWise provides the regulatory, compliance, operational, and program infrastructure that supports deposit, lending, card, and payment programs. Through Strategic Program Lending, BIN Sponsorship, MoneyRails™, and other solutions, FinWise helps fintech partners scale responsibly while navigating a highly regulated environment. Learn more here https://www.finwise.bank/fintech/

Explore the LendAPI Marketplace: https://www.lendapi.com/marketplace
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In this episode, host Timothy Li (CEO, LendAPI) talks with Trevor Barran, CEO of FNCR, about the strange, underserved middle of small business lending — too big for a local bank or an online lending platform, too small for a commercial bank's credit desk — and why FNCR built an entire company to close that gap.

Trevor's path runs from building American Express's early small business credit line models, to studying complex adaptive systems and AI at the Santa Fe Institute in the early 2000s, to living through the 2008 financial crisis as regulation reshaped small business lending in ways no one fully anticipated. He and Tim trace how that regulatory shift commoditized small-dollar lending, created the opening for data-driven platforms like OnDeck, Kabbage, and Lending Club, and left a $1M-to-$30M financing gap that neither banks nor fintech lenders have solved.

What You'll Learn:

• How 2008-era regulation (personal guarantees, delinquency timelines, capital reserve rules) accidentally commoditized small business lending and pushed banks out of it
• Why data-driven lending platforms work well under roughly $250K-$500K, but struggle to underwrite profitably above that
• How Trevor's team built a market for monetizing pending government credits (like the Employee Retention Credit) during COVID — buying receivables at 85 cents on the dollar so businesses could get cash immediately instead of waiting on the IRS
• Why the same logic now applies to the tariff refund wave, after tariffs were ruled unconstitutional
• How FNCR connects roughly 2,000 bank and non-bank lenders to the small and medium enterprise market through "programs" — tightly defined lending needs matched to specific capital providers, currently focused on real estate and healthcare
• Why FNCR never cold-calls or cold-emails a business — every introduction comes through an existing partner relationship (PEOs, GPOs, large suppliers) with tens of thousands of SME relationships already in place
• What's next for FNCR: e-commerce businesses and the AI-driven creator economy

About FNCR
FNCR ("financier") is a lending marketplace built to serve small and medium enterprises seeking $1 million to $30 million in financing — a segment too large for most banks and online lenders, and too small for commercial banking desks. Led by CEO Trevor Barran, FNCR partners with large businesses that already hold tens of thousands of SME relationships (suppliers, PEOs, GPOs) to match qualifying businesses with the right lender from its network of roughly 2,000 bank and non-bank capital providers, with no unsolicited outreach to borrowers.

Learn more: https://www.fncr.com

Explore the LendAPI Marketplace: https://www.lendapi.com/marketplace

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In this episode, host Timothy Li (CEO, LendAPI) welcomes back Carlos Caro — consumer lending founder, creator of The Free Toaster newsletter, and now the organizer of a new invite-curated event bringing lenders and publishers together in San Francisco.

Carlos spent seven years at Capital One before building Credit Karma's Lightbox targeting platform from zero customers, then went on to found NewMarket Growth, which advises lenders on affiliate partnerships with the likes of Experian, LendingTree, and Credible. Now he's channeling everything he's learned about the industry's biggest conferences into something smaller, sharper, and far less exhausting.

What You'll Learn:

• Why Carlos built a 150-person, highly curated alternative to 10,000-person mega-conferences like Money20/20
• The two-day format: a TED-talk-style day of talks, off-the-record Q&A, and debate-format sessions at San Francisco's Exploratorium, followed by a day of wine tasting and structured networking in Sonoma
• Who should attend: CMOs and heads of partnerships at lenders, and senior leaders at publishers like Experian, Credit Karma, Engine, and Prism Data
• Why panels are being replaced with debates — two speakers arguing opposite extremes of an issue, judged by no one
• How ticket pricing (under $1,000 for day one before August 1) compares to Money20/20's $4,000+ price tag
• Carlos's philosophy on event pricing, ratios, and why he'd rather have 100 of the right people in a room than 300 of the wrong ones
• What "success" looks like for attendees: one new partner relationship worth more than the ticket price ten times over

About The Free Toaster
The Free Toaster is a newsletter and podcast covering the intersection of marketing and lending, with roughly 2,500 subscribers and interviews with leaders across the fintech ecosystem. Its latest venture is the Affiliate Marketing Summit for Lenders and Publishers — a two-day, invite-curated event running September 23 (San Francisco) and September 24 (Sonoma), with early-bird pricing through August 1. Sponsors confirmed so far include Experian, Engine, Prism Data, SoFi, Chime, Credit Karma, LendingTree, Bankrate, Rakuten, and Avant.

Learn more and register: https://events.thefreetoaster.com

Explore the LendAPI Marketplace: https://www.lendapi.com/marketplace

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In this episode, host Timothy Li (CEO, LendAPI) talks with Jeeda Salloum , Partner at Block Equity Group, about small business lending, the real stories behind the numbers, and how a psychology degree turned out to be the perfect training for finance.

Jeeda's a partner, closing deals and helping build out the firm's AI stack. She and Tim dig into how Block Equity has funded $370M+ for small businesses, why 80% of their clients come back for a second round, and what it actually looks like to pull a business owner out of a genuine financial hole.

What You'll Learn:

• How Block Equity Group has funded over $370 million for small businesses, and why 80% of clients return for repeat financing
• A real client story: an SBA micro loan, a medical emergency, a "rapid rescore," and a larger SBA round that followed
• How a factoring facility helped a trucking company stabilize cash flow while waiting on 30/60/90-day client payments
• Why a policy change on SBA eligibility for green card holders forced Block Equity to find bridge financing and investor capital instead
• How Block Equity is using AI to automate back-office and document collection work — without replacing the human relationship at the center of the business
• Why Jeeda believes sales is the single most transferable skill you can learn
• Advice for young people and founders on staying focused, choosing your environment, and pushing through economic uncertainty and noise

About Block Equity Group
Block Equity Group is a small business finance and advisory firm that helps business owners access SBA loans, factoring, bridge financing, and refinancing — with a relationship-first approach that keeps 80% of clients coming back for repeat funding. Founded by two cousins as a family venture, the firm has funded more than $370 million for small businesses across the country. Block Equity Group is a partner on the LendAPI Marketplace. Learn more: https://www.blockequitygr.com

Explore the LendAPI Marketplace: https://www.lendapi.com/marketplace

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In this episode, host Timothy Li (CEO, LendAPI) talks with John Gordon, CEO of ValidiFI, about how lenders and fintechs validate bank accounts, stop ACH fraud, and make better credit decisions using bank behavior data most lenders never see.

John breaks down NACHA's Web Debit Rule (why every ACH payment now requires account validation and ongoing fraud checks), the real-world fraud patterns ValidiFI's data uncovers, and why "managed friction" — not maximum friction — is the smarter way to protect both lenders and good customers.

What You'll Learn:

• What NACHA's Web Debit Rule actually requires, and how its 2026 update expanded fraud-check obligations
• Real fraud signals ValidiFI tracks: landlines/VOIP as the riskiest phone types, 4+ accounts linked to one consumer raising risk 70%, and one account tied to 200+ Social Security numbers
• Why "managed friction" beats blanket friction — fast-tracking clean accounts and reserving step-up authentication (bank login, micro deposits) for risky ones
• How FedNow/RTP-enabled micro deposits now validate an account same-day using an alphanumeric code instead of a 3-day penny-drop
• Why open banking (logging into your bank account) and account/routing validation should coexist, not compete
• How ValidiFI processes 1.75 billion account inquiries, plus data partnerships with Early Warning Services and JPMorgan Payments
• Why traditional credit scores miss Buy Now Pay Later, medical debt, and gaming spend — and how bank behavior data fills the gap
• How free retroactive testing lets lenders see what ValidiFI's fraud and risk scoring would have caught, before signing anything

About ValidiFI
ValidiFI helps lenders, fintechs, and financial institutions validate bank accounts, detect fraud, and assess credit risk using bank and payment intelligence — including a 1.75-billion-inquiry data network and data-sharing partnerships with Early Warning Services and JPMorgan Payments. Led by CEO John Gordon, ValidiFi serves clients across credit and risk, fraud prevention, and account validation, including non-prime lenders, auto finance, insurance, and loyalty/payments programs. ValidiFi is a partner on the LendAPI Marketplace.

Learn more: https://www.validifi.com

Explore the LendAPI Marketplace: https://www.lendapi.com/marketplace

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In this episode, host Timothy Li (CEO, LendAPI) talks with Jay Shah of CRS Credit API — a licensed Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA) built to make regulated financial data easy for fintechs and lenders to access.

Jay breaks down what "regulated data" actually means, why the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) protects consumer credit data, and what separates a licensed CRA from a data broker. He explains how CRS connects lenders to 200+ products across Experian, TransUnion, Equifax, LexisNexis, CoreLogic, Finicity, SoCure and more — all through a single integration, with onboarding down to about four days.

What You'll Learn:

• Why regulated consumer data exists, and what the FCRA protects
• What a CRA license actually requires, and why so few companies have one
• How CRS lets lenders pull credit, identity, and fraud data through one API instead of onboarding each bureau separately
• Why some lenders want more data (full reports, fraud, business checks) while others want less — just the 3-5 attributes that matter for fast, high-volume decisions
• How silent, low-friction identity verification (phone + device signals) is replacing long PII forms without hurting match rates
• How a non-technical client used AI tools to build a working underwriting engine directly on top of CRS's API
• CRS's "sales karma" philosophy — advising fintechs on compliant, cost-efficient data flows instead of just selling products

About CRS Credit API
CRS is a licensed Consumer Reporting Agency built by CEO Stephen Hawkins, a 30+ year veteran of the credit bureau industry, to give fintechs and lenders fast, compliant access to regulated data. Jay Shah leads business development, having previously worked in fintech sales at Forward Lane. CRS partners directly with the major bureaus and specialty data vendors, offering a single onboarding process, a real-time onboarding portal, and flexible product bundles for lenders of every size — from single-founder startups to major banks.

Learn more: crscreditapi.com

Explore the LendAPI Marketplace: lendapi.com/marketplace

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