Kaaj, an AI-driven credit intelligence startup founded in 2024 by Utsav Shah and Shivi Sharma, has raised $3.8 million in seed funding led by Kindred Ventures, with participation from Better Tomorrow Ventures, Karman Ventures, Pythia Ventures, Coughdrop Capital, and several notable angel investors. The company aims to expand access to affordable capital for small businesses by automating end-to-end credit analysis.
Kaaj’s platform leverages agentic AI to automate credit risk analysis and underwriting processes, drastically reducing loan decision times from days to mere minutes. By enabling lenders to operate more efficiently, Kaaj helps unlock access to affordable capital for smaller loans that were previously unprofitable to underwrite at scale.
Since inception, the platform has already processed over $5 billion worth of loan applications, signaling early market traction. Kaaj’s current clients include notable equipment finance companies such as Amur Equipment Finance, Quality Equipment Finance, and Fundr.
The seed funding will support expansion into the $1.7 trillion U.S. small business lending market and the $1.3 trillion equipment finance segment. Key objectives include enhancing AI capabilities, rolling out new underwriting modules, and scaling the customer base among lenders and brokers.
By automating manual credit processes with AI, Kaaj aims to transform the economic viability of small business lending, addressing a significant market gap while empowering lenders with faster, more accurate underwriting.
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