Ascendus is a New York-based online business lender that offers a range of financial products to small and medium sized businesses. In the three decades of its founding, Ascendus has lent over $255 million to more than 25,300 small businesses nationwide. The organization’s mission is to provide access to credit to the underserved sections of society across race, gender, ethnicity and financial status. The deployment of Scienaptic’s AI-powered loan decisioning platform will further its reach into small business lending, allowing even more entrepreneurs to have access to financial services they need to support their businesses.

“Our company’s first loan was $500 to an immigrant mother, who had lost her job and wanted to start her Mexican food cart for her former co-workers. One cart became two and two carts became a restaurant,” said Paul Quintero, CEO at Ascendus. “Scienaptic's AI-powered credit decisioning platform will empower us to say “yes” to many more borrowers like her who have potential to be great entrepreneurs but just need that initial financial support. We will be able to automate our loan decisioning and make advanced loan decisions much faster.”

“Our partnership with Ascendus will further our mission to empower lenders to make AI-powered advanced loan decisioning and offer better access to credit to entrepreneurs. The beauty of our platform is that we are empowering both lenders and borrowers, who will create jobs and fulfill their American dreams along with the dreams of many others,” said Pankaj Jain, President of Scienaptic. “Our platform will not only broaden Ascendus’s client base but also enhance their customer experience.”