FairPlay, a pioneering startup harnessing AI to mitigate algorithmic bias in lending, has successfully secured $10 million in Series A funding.
The funding round was spearheaded by Nyca Partners, with contributions from Cross River Digital Ventures, Third Prime, Fin Capital, TTV, Nevcaut Ventures, Financial Venture Studio, and investor Jonathan Weiner.
Positioned as a “Fairness-as-a-Service” provider, FairPlay aims to combat the biases that people of color, women, and other historically marginalized groups face in credit decisions.
To achieve this, FairPlay offers two key APIs. The first, Fairness Analysis, evaluates a lending model’s inputs, outputs, and outcomes to pinpoint any disparities affecting these disadvantaged groups. The second API, Second Look, employs Fairness Aware AI technology to reassess denied loan applications from protected groups. This technology examines whether applicants turned away by the initial algorithm share characteristics with ‘good’ borrowers that may not have been previously considered.
According to FairPlay, this approach enables more applicants from underserved demographics to be responsibly approved for loans, thus reducing bias and enhancing lenders’ profitability.
The newly acquired funds will be dedicated to strengthening the company’s engineering and data science teams, as well as expanding its product offerings into the insurance, marketing, and fraud sectors.
Kareem Saleh, CEO of FairPlay, stated, “Lenders partner with FairPlay because they recognize, as we do, that fairness is beneficial for individuals, profits, and societal progress. We are eager to leverage this funding to enhance our products, expand our team, and introduce Fairness-as-a-Service across new markets.”