Data scientists and engineers leverage AI models from Google and AWS to scale small business lending
Biz2Credit, the parent company of Biz2X, which is an AI-powered small business lending platform, announced a partnership with Columbia University to tackle one of the toughest challenges in financial services: automating and scaling funding access for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The effort aims to apply artificial intelligence to transform SMB loan portfolios into a mainstream, investable asset class for private credit funds.
The initiative will be formally introduced at a private Biz2Credit/Biz2X-hosted Thought Leadership Forum in New York City during UN Assembly Week (September 22). Jeffrey Sachs, Professor at Columbia University and President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network will provide remarks to a gathering of financial leaders, dignitaries and policymakers. Further event dates to be announced in the coming weeks.
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The Biz2Credit/Biz2X-Columbia partnership has three core elements:
- An AI Research Program with Columbia University faculty and graduate students from the School of Engineering and Data Science Institute.
- Development of proprietary Biz2X AI models, guided by the research, leveraging Google and AWS AI solutions, Biz2X’s proprietary SMB lending data.
- Thought Leadership Forums to showcase research and practical insights to the financial community.
“Small businesses are the growth engine of economies worldwide, but they remain systematically underfunded,” said Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2X. “By combining Columbia’s research leadership with Biz2X’s long-standing expertise and data, we can democratize and transform SMB finance into a scalable, investable asset class and unlock new private credit flows to business owners globally.”
Jeffrey Sachs, University Professor at Columbia University, added: “This partnership demonstrates how cutting-edge research and advanced technologies can promote economic inclusion and economic growth. Improved access to finance for small businesses fosters innovation, job creation, and long-term resilience in both high-income and emerging economies.”
Projected impact: Lenders who adopt the AI features that Biz2X has developed could see loan approval times cut in half and a 30% increase in lending volumes. Biz2Credit projects over $500 million in additional small business credit unlocked annually in its own portfolio. At scale, the model could close the SME financing gap to unlock up to $750 billion in private credit for U.S. small businesses, and boost GDP by as much as $1.3 trillion annually. In emerging markets like the Middle East, the approach could generate an incremental $250 billion in SME financing and support up to 16 million new jobs.
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