Zest AI: On a Growth Path with Artificial Intelligence

The US-based lending technology provider, Zest AI, has received significant growth funding of $200 million from Insight Partners. This funding is intended to strengthen the company's product range, with a focus on fraud protection and generative AI, to revolutionize the future of lending. By utilizing AI, Zest AI aims to significantly transform lending by developing more advanced and accurate scoring methods. This technology uses thousands of data points, going far beyond traditional models that only use 15-20 variables. Jon Rosenbaum, Managing Director of Insight Partners and a board member of Zest AI, expressed enthusiasm for the next development phase, which aims to enable healthy growth for lenders while making credit access fairer for consumers. This includes doubling efforts in the lending space while simultaneously accelerating new products in fraud and AI workflow areas. Zest's expansion strategy focuses on four main pillars: lending solutions, fraud protection, marketing, and data intelligence. Recently, the company launched Zest Protect and LuLu, a generative AI lending intelligence companion, making significant advances in its product offering. Since Insight Partners' initial investment in 2020, Zest AI has doubled its customer base annually, with an average annual growth rate of over 50%. With a portfolio of over 50 patents, the company has developed and introduced more than 500 proprietary AI models for consumer credit assessment, enhancing lenders' decision-making. Currently, Zest AI's customer base encompasses 110 million individuals and manages assets totaling $5.5 billion. Mike de Vere, founder and CEO of Zest AI, emphasized strengthening the financial system by utilizing more data and AI to provide a more accurate picture of consumer credit risk. This enables customers to increase their lending operations by over 25% and offer fair credit opportunities to every American. Already in 2021, Zest AI raised $18 million in a funding round led by VyStar Credit Union and First National Bank of Omaha, with support from existing investor Northgate Capital.