One day, Jannae Gammage was working as a technology consultant with the Small Business Administration, helping companies secure capital through traditional lenders like banks and credit unions. She could not stop thinking about a significant problem: the methods connecting lenders and businesses were woefully outdated, especially regarding technology. She described being inside the mess, watching good businesses struggle while trying to navigate old workflows. Her job was to find technology to solve this issue, but she could not find anything that existed.
So she contacted an old friend, Alaia Martin, and the two began working together. In 2022, the duo started Cyphr, a Kansas City-based company focused on simplifying the lending process for both lenders and small businesses. Cyphr is a Top 20 finalist in Startup Battlefield, which is part of TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. The product analyzes alternative data sources and financial patterns of small businesses to help lenders make decisions about creditworthiness.
Cyphr went through several iterations after its launch, but recent advancements in artificial intelligence paved the way for the product it is today. It officially launched in the market in April 2024. The CEO, Jannae Gammage, explained that the initial problem they aimed to solve was how to make underwriting smarter and faster so entrepreneurs could access capital. They wanted a world where money moved freely as it did in other sectors, and they came in with a borrower-centric experience, while many other companies focused primarily on the lenders.
They started building a large language model, using training data based on overlooked business owners and their company financials, to help lenders decide which companies to partner with. The company’s COO, Alaia Martin, noted that they were building these models manually before AI’s latest upgrades. Even though they are an AI-native company, they started without much help. Their current model is built on top of an OpenAI model, which they have fine-tuned for their own use.
The latest updates in AI did more than improve their product; it also made lenders more willing to work with them, Gammage said. The financial industry was already shifting due to COVID, recognizing a need to digitize and modernize. Now, with AI being used daily, it feels comfortable. Gammage reflected that if they had gone to market in 2022, it would have been much harder to get buy-in because of the fear surrounding new technology and AI and the preference for the status quo.
The company has raised one million dollars to date. Gammage said the fundraising process was both easy and hard at the same time. The things she thought would be difficult were not, and the things she thought would be straightforward were not at all. One challenge was how capital flowed; they watched peers raise millions at once, while their money came in tranches as they participated in accelerators and various pitch competitions. She noted it is very hard to have catalytic moments when receiving cash injections in that manner.
Meanwhile, Martin was concerned about what it would be like fundraising in San Francisco as two Black women with non-technical backgrounds from the Midwest. She stated they are not what people typically think of as tech founders. However, she said they did not have much of a problem and were really well received in Silicon Valley. Gammage added that she is grateful they were able to raise money, knowing that less than one percent of people like them can say that.
The company has big plans. It is currently building a platform to help companies find opportunities when the World Cup comes to town next year. Gammage and Martin have also considered new locations for the company, though nothing is set in stone. Gammage said they are excited about the company’s future, adding that winning Disrupt’s Battlefield will hopefully help accomplish these goals because even momentum requires money.