Rulebase: Revolutionizing Background Processes in the Financial Sector through Smart Automation

The startup Rulebase, a graduate of the renowned Y Combinator program, is focusing on the next wave of automation in the financial services sector. This wave is being driven by efficiently handling overlooked back-office tasks such as compliance, rather than flashy AI interfaces. Founded by Nigerian engineers Gideon Ebose and Chidi Williams, who met in London, Rulebase recently completed a pre-seed funding round of $2.1 million. This round was led by Bowery Capital, with support from Y Combinator, Commerce Ventures, Transpose Platform VC, and several business angels. The company automates tedious manual tasks in the day-to-day operations of financial service providers by offering an AI-based tool that assesses customer interactions and flags regulatory risks, among other functions. This implementation retains the necessary human intervention that financial companies require. Current customers include the U.S. business banking platform Rho. Ebose, a former product lead at Microsoft, and Williams, a former backend engineer at Goldman Sachs, had previously experimented with other AI products. The idea for Rulebase arose from observing inefficient back-office processes in financial institutions, particularly in the area of regulatory workflows. The startup's software currently focuses on workflows triggered by customer service interactions, with an initial focus on quality assurance. Here, instead of the usual 3-5% manual review in traditional institutions, 100% of interactions are now evaluated. In the case of Rho, Rulebase was able to reduce escalations by up to 30%. With the newly received funding, Rulebase plans to expand its technology and add new features such as fraud investigations and audit preparation. The current focus is on the financial services sector, while in the long term, adjacent markets such as the insurance industry could also be targeted. The company has experienced remarkable revenue growth since entering the Y Combinator cohort in the fall of 2024. Based on a usage-based business model, Rulebase charges per interaction reviewed or workflow automated. Gideon Ebose and Chidi Williams encourage other founders to think globally from the start to fully leverage the potential of small teams in today's technological landscape. Williams emphasizes that ambitious, large-scale ideas are in demand in AI development.