Since the pandemic, small business creation has increased in the United States. There are many technology tools designed to help these businesses with things like payroll and retirement planning, but the increased availability of tools doesn't mean small businesses know how to use them to make smarter decisions. It doesn't mean that it is.
Uprise is trying to change that. The startup aims to serve as a financial advisor to these small and medium-sized businesses. It is built into financial services products that small businesses are already using, such as HR tech firm Rippling and small business tax startup Carry, and provides recommendations on what businesses should do. . For example, Uprise can recommend what type of severance benefits your company should offer based on its size and location.
Recommendations come from data points collected from the financial services institutions you visit Uprise with, as well as AI algorithms that look at information about specific companies. Nanthakumar Muthusamy, co-founder and head of engineering at Uprise, told TechCrunch that all recommendations on the platform are vetted through human financial advisors.
“We believe that humans should be informed before talking to customers,” Muthusamy said. “They also prefer talking to humans rather than machines.”
Although Uprise currently focuses on small and medium-sized businesses, the original concept was to provide financial advice to consumers. Uprise co-founder and CEO Jessica Cheng Liolfi told TechCrunch that the idea for the company came to him after serving in numerous roles at fintech companies such as Wise and Robinhood. He said he came up with the idea after realizing that people also have the same problem making wise decisions.
She got in touch with Chris Goodmacher, an OnDeck fellow who noticed the same dilemma while working at fintech companies like JustWorks, and they got started. Muthusamy also joined the group soon after.
The first version of Uprise launched in private beta in 2022 as a direct-to-consumer strategy built for individuals making personal financial decisions. While the product is still available, the company is focusing on small and medium-sized businesses, realizing that its most avid users are individuals such as entrepreneurs and freelancers who want advice for both themselves and small businesses. I decided.
“Traditional finance doesn't have great solutions for them,” Chen Liorfi said of these people. “When you walk into a traditional bank, it's like your business needs go here, your personal needs go here, and the two don't talk to each other. But that reflects the reality of small business owners. The finances of my business are my finances.”
The company pivoted towards small and medium-sized businesses and soon began receiving requests from fintech companies to incorporate its technology into their platform. Uprise has been operating in beta with five customers since 2023, and is now rolling out in earnest with more partnerships.
The San Francisco-based company just raised $3.3 million in a seed round led by Blank Ventures, with participation from VCs including Graham & Walker, Hustle Fund, and Dash Fund. It also raised funding from a number of angel investors in the fintech world, including SoFi co-founder Dan Macklin and Gusto co-founder Eddie Kim.
“All the investors who actually participated had really deep knowledge of the field,” Chen Liorfi said. “The thing about this whole journey is that we didn't have to convince them that they needed to do it.” [for this]”
The company plans to use the funding to fully launch its products and acquire more partnerships.
“Our vision of what embedded financial advisory means is that if you're a small business owner and you have a folder of financial apps, we'll integrate into all of those apps. ” said Chen Riolfi. “We know the situation and we know what to do there.”