CMU spinout company Cognistx lands contract to review Miami small-business loan applications
Carnegie Mellon University spinout Cognistx recently received a $30,000 contract from the RISE Miami-Dade Fund to review loan applications from small businesses that are struggling as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A loan application review that would typically take a half-hour, which includes an evaluation of creditworthiness, can be done in milliseconds using artificial intelligence that is employed by Cognistx, CEO Sanjay Chopra said.
“The quicker we receive the data, the quicker the businesses receive results,” Miami Bayside Foundation Director Michael Sellinger said in a statement. “When there’s a high volume of applications, the speed and accuracy AI offers is dramatic.”
The Miami Bayside Foundation oversees the RISE MiamiDade Fund.
Mr. Chopra, who has an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, co-founded Cognistx in 2015. The company employs 25 people. Although revenue figures were not disclosed, the privately held company operates in the black, he said.
Cognistx’s software platform identifies both the best candidates for the loans and the location of applicants, which assures an equitable distribution of loan money, he said.
Cognistx’s contract with the RISE Miami-Dade Fund could lead to bigger things, including contracts to review more conventional financial products, including home mortgages and student loans, Mr. Chopra said.
“That’s the power,” he said. “You need fewer people to process more applications quickly.”