Participated · Equity · Jul 2023

Immediate is a Birmingham-based earned wage access company led by founder and CEO Matt Pierce. It enables employees to access funds when needed via time-tracking and payroll integrations, same-day and next-day bank transfers, and the ability to load earnings on a debit card. The product is designed to address liquidity challenges for employees facing unexpected expenses and to improve financial wellness by helping eliminate cycles of debt. The company raised $16 million in funding split between growth equity and a working capital facility. The round was led by Castle Creek Launchpad with participation from BankSouth and Birmingham executives Bryan Statham and Cynthia Johnson. An expanded working capital credit facility was provided by SouthPoint Bank to support accelerated growth in the workplace financial health sector. Immediate provides an earned-wage access solution that integrates with time tracking and payroll systems to let employees access wages they have earned but not yet been paid. The product supports same-day and next-day bank transfers and the option to load earnings onto a debit card. Immediate partners with companies including Visa, The Bancorp, and WellRx to deliver its service. The company says it has a growing user base and aims to improve financial wellness and reduce cycles of debt for employees. Management plans to use new funding to continue accelerated growth and scale partnerships. The company is entering its third year in business and has set a three-year goal to positively affect the financial well-being of one million Americans. Immediate builds the ImmediatePay platform to give employees on-demand access to earned but unpaid wages, integrating with employers' time tracking and payroll. The platform supports same-day and next-day bank transfers and can load earnings directly onto a debit card. Employers and employees pay nominal early-access fees structured like ATM convenience charges, which employers can elect to cover. Immediate positions its product as a tool to reduce financial stress, boost engagement, cut turnover, and help employers attract talent. Founded by healthcare technology veterans Matt Pierce and Jason Gwizdala, the company aims to disrupt predatory payday lending and improve financial health for hourly workers. Financially, Immediate announced an oversubscribed seven-figure seed round and previously won $100,000 in non-dilutive prize money from the Alabama Launchpad competition.

Participated · Series C · Aug 2022

Kasisto builds KAI, a conversational and generative AI platform for the financial services industry. The platform includes virtual assistants and KAI Answers, which gives employees immediate access to accurate information drawn from an institution’s knowledge base. KAI Answers enables virtual assistants to leverage generative AI to produce precise responses from internal and public-facing documents, streamlining customer service and reducing time to locate critical data. Kasisto’s customers include global banks such as J.P. Morgan, Westpac, Standard Chartered, TD, and Nedbank, as well as U.S. community banks and credit unions. The company says the platform is engaging millions of consumers worldwide across multiple channels and languages and is optimized for performance, scalability, security, and compliance. Kasisto recently closed a Series D that brings total funding to $90 million and appointed Don Layden as Executive Chairman; it plans to use the capital and strengthened leadership to accelerate innovation, expand market presence, and further integrate conversational and generative AI to help frontline bankers and operational staff. Kasisto offers KAI, a digital experience platform integrated into the fintech ecosystem through partnerships with providers such as FIS, NCR and Q2. The company serves customers including J.P. Morgan, Westpac, Standard Chartered, TD, Manulife Bank and credit unions like Fairwinds and Excite. Kasisto plans to use new funding to continue investing in product development, strategic go-to-market initiatives, and to expand partnerships with top financial services providers. The company is led by co-founder and CEO Zor Gorelov. Kasisto is NYC-based and also has offices in Silicon Valley and Singapore. Recent financing activity indicates ongoing external investor support for its platform and partnerships. Kasisto develops KAI, a conversational AI-powered digital experience platform for financial services firms. Led by CEO Zor Gorelov, the platform is built to engage millions of consumers worldwide across multiple channels and languages and is optimized for performance, scalability, security, and compliance. Customers named in the article include J.P. Morgan, Westpac, Standard Chartered, TD, Manulife Bank and credit unions such as Fairwinds and Excite. The company closed a $15.5M Series C round, bringing total funding to date to $67M. In conjunction with the round, Mike Abbaei, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Naples Technology Ventures, will join Kasisto’s board. Kasisto intends to use the funds to accelerate growth with investments in sales, business development, marketing, strategy and customer success. The company is based in New York City and also has offices in Silicon Valley and Singapore. Kasisto provides a digital experience platform for the financial services industry, engaging with millions of consumers around the world across multiple channels and languages. The platform is optimized for performance, scalability, security, and compliance. The company plans to use proceeds from the recent investment to expand its global field organization and accelerate its go-to-market strategy. Kasisto received a $7M investment from Napier Park Financial Partners as part of a Series B extension that brought the round's total to $22M. Founded in 2013 and led by CEO Zor Gorelov, Kasisto is NYC-based with offices in Silicon Valley and Singapore. Customers include DBS Bank, J.P. Morgan Chase, Mastercard, Standard Chartered, TD, and Manulife Bank. Kasisto develops KAI, an open conversational AI platform trained in the language of banking and finance to power human-like virtual assistants for financial institutions. KAI includes enterprise tools to customize, measure, train, and improve virtual assistants and meets the needs of demanding financial services organizations. The company reports global production deployments of its intelligent virtual assistants in more banks than any other company. Customers include J.P. Morgan, Mastercard, Standard Chartered, TD, and DBS. Founded in 2013 and led by CEO Zor Gorelov, Kasisto is based in New York City and also has offices in Silicon Valley and Singapore. The company intends to use new funding to expand adoption of its services across all segments of the financial services industry.