Cyphr

What Cyphr does

Cyphr (legal name Cyphr AI, Inc.) is a Kansas City-based financial AI company founded in 2022 by Jannae Gammage (CEO) and Alaia Martin (COO), with Phil Reynolds serving as CTO. The company's product is a capital readiness infrastructure platform that converts bank transaction data and public records — IRS EIN verification, state Secretary of State filings, and integrations with Chase, Square, and Stripe — into a lender-grade Capital Readiness Score on a 0-300 scale and a standardized Readiness Packet. The score maps directly to FICO SBSS, the SBA scoring service retiring in March 2026, allowing lenders to interpret Cyphr outputs without retraining. A proprietary Financial Language Model underwrites the scoring, producing explainable per-dimension reasoning and adverse-action language.

Cyphr serves four distinct buyer segments from a single scoring primitive: small business owners (self-serve PLG funnel with a free preview and Pro upgrade for ongoing monitoring and lender introductions), lenders (enterprise sales for per-match or subscription intake with Section 1071 and SOC 2 Type II compliance baked in), ESOs/CDFIs and community lenders (Capital Access Centers deployed in their storefronts with recurring revenue share), and city and state governments (multi-year platform licensing for capital-flow dashboards and Business Posture Indexing). Notable outcomes cited by the company include 10x throughput improvement for Capital Access Centers (90-minute intake compressed to under 10 minutes), 35-50% capital deployment rates for programs using standardized readiness versus 10-20% for traditional programs, and average readiness-score improvements of 25-35 points within 60 days.

The company's business model combines subscription (Pro for SMBs, government licensing), transaction-based pricing (per-matched deal for lenders), and channel revenue share (Capital Access Center partner conversions). Strategic capital includes a $2.2M round in July 2024 from Black Operator Ventures, Plug and Play, and Techstars, plus two project grants from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation supporting the $5.9B Economic Mobility Bond Initiative across 18 Midwest states and a Pipeline Entrepreneurs research partnership. The company maintains SOC 2 Type II certification and reports deployments across 30 states, with a dedicated WorldReady sub-brand targeting SMB readiness for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Name

Cyphr

Legal name

Cyphr AI, Inc.

Website

https://cyphrai.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Cyphr is a Kansas City-based financial AI company that converts bank transactions and public records into a 0-300 capital readiness score and lender-ready packet for small businesses, lenders, ESOs/CDFIs, and government economic development programs across 30 states.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Small Business Lending Infrastructure

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132), Credit Bureaus (561450), Activities Related to Credit Intermediation (5223)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Mortgage Bankers & Loan Correspondents (6162)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYFSAKAHAC

P2P Small Business / SME Marketplace Lending

Financial & Insurance/Lending & Consumer Finance/Peer-to-Peer (P2P) & Marketplace Lending

SECONDARYFSAGAIAD

BNPL Underwriting & Credit Decisioning Platforms

Financial & Insurance/Financial Technology (Fintech)/BNPL & Point-of-Sale Financing Platforms

Keywords

• Capital readiness scoring
• Small business lending
• Alternative credit scoring
• Lender matching platform
• Financial AI infrastructure

Headquarters

HQ city

Kansas City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel

Revenue model

1. Pro Subscription (Business Owners): Business owners upgrade from free preview to Pro for ongoing monitoring, document generation, and lender introductions. Revenue share split with Capital Access Center partners who generate the conversion.
2. Per-Match and Subscription (Lenders): Lenders pay per-match pricing for receiving scored, packet-ready borrowers matched to their credit box. Alternative subscription pricing available for higher volume. SOC 2 certified, Section 1071 compliant.
3. Capital Access Center Revenue Share: Partner revenue share on Pro upgrades when businesses walk through partner centers. Recurring share for as long as business stays subscribed.
4. Government Platform Licensing: State and city governments pay for capital flow dashboards, business posture indexing, and program targeting tools. Pricing scales with scope, geography, and funding pathway including grant, bond, and state contract structures.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Cyphr operates an AI-driven capital readiness platform that ingests bank transaction data and public records to produce a lender-grade 0–300 readiness score and a standardized, packet-ready borrower document. It sells this scoring primitive plus four buyer-facing modules — a self-serve business-owner portal, a lender deal-matching service, a Capital Access Center deployment kit for ESOs/CDFIs, and a government capital-flow dashboard — and bundles compliance (SOC 2 Type II, Section 1071) into the offering.

Product overview

Cyphr is a capital readiness infrastructure platform built around a core 0-300 readiness scoring primitive. The platform consists of the Cyphr Readiness Score and Readiness Packet as the foundational offerings, with four buyer-facing modules: For Business Owners (self-service scoring), For Lenders (deal matching/intake), Capital Access Centers (ESO deployment model), and For Governments (ecosystem monitoring). The platform connects bank transaction data and public records to generate lender-grade assessments. An ancillary companion product called WorldReady serves World Cup 2026 preparation. All modules share the same scoring engine and packet format for ecosystem consistency.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• WorldReady: Companion product preparing small businesses for the 2026 FIFA World Cup surge — vendor readiness, capital matching, host city plans for businesses serving WC26.

Products and services

• Cyphr Capital Readiness Platform Core SaaS platform that turns bank transactions and public records into a lender-grade 0–300 readiness score and a packet-ready borrower document; foundation for all buyer-facing modules.
• Cyphr for Business Owners

Quantifiable outcome

• 10x throughput improvement for Capital Access Centers (90 min to <10 min per business)
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability5 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Pipeline EntrepreneurscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 April 2026Research partnership funded by Kauffman Foundation project grant. Testing whether Cyphr's capital readiness scoring can evaluate high-growth tech founders on equity-capital path. Full-circle moment - Cyphr founder Jannae Gammage developed company's earliest architecture during her 2022 Fellowship at Pipeline. Partnership gives Cyphr research access to anonymized data from Pipeline's fellowship and Pathfinder cohorts.
• Mastercard Start PathcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 30 May 2024Selected for Mastercard Start Path In Solidarity program - designed to accelerate high-growth startups building technology for inclusive economic growth. One of seven startups chosen from hundreds of applications from 54 countries. Provides strategic mentorship, access to Mastercard's products and services, connections to financial institutions and economic development partners, and forums to pitch with fintech decision-makers.
• Kansas Economic DevelopmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerState economic development partnership in Kansas - one of the states where Cyphr platform is deployed. Collaborating on capital readiness infrastructure for Kansas small businesses.
• Maryland Economic DevelopmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerState economic development partnership in Maryland - part of 30-state deployment footprint.
• Ohio Economic DevelopmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerState economic development partnership in Ohio - home to Freedom Equity Capital Access Center partner in Columbus.
• Michigan Economic DevelopmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerState economic development partnership in Michigan.
• National Bankers Association FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on the Economic Mobility Bond Initiative - $5.9 billion bond deploying capital across 18 Midwest states. First Kauffman Foundation award supports this work.
• Omni Circle (Topeka, Kansas)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorFounding Capital Access Center partner deploying Cyphr in their Topeka, Kansas storefront. One of three founding centers launching in 2026 across the Midwest.
• Keystone CoLAB (Kansas City, Missouri)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorFounding Capital Access Center partner deploying Cyphr in their Kansas City, Missouri storefront. One of three founding centers launching in 2026. Co-hosted WorldReady KC session with Cyphr co-founders.
• Freedom Equity (Columbus, Ohio)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorFounding Capital Access Center partner deploying Cyphr in their Columbus, Ohio storefront. One of three founding centers. CEO J.Averi participated in Capital Access in Action webinar with Cyphr CEO.
• SBA 7(a) LenderscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorSBA 7(a) lenders receive matched borrowers with Cyphr scores. The 0-300 scale matches FICO SBSS that lenders already know how to interpret.
• CDFIs (Community Development Financial Institutions)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCDFIs receive matched borrowers through Cyphr network. Cyphr matches businesses scoring 140-199 (Developing band) with microloan and CDFI products.
• Data Providers / PlatformsTechnology or IntegrationData integration partnerships with platforms holding data that informs capital decisions. Co-build integrations, joint go-to-market, and embedded readiness.
• Trade AssociationssupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerAssociation partnerships for ecosystem and data partnerships. Reference architecture for shared customers, co-marketing, joint research, and conference programming.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Lendio: SMB lending marketplace connecting small business owners to a network of lenders. Lendio is the most direct marketplace analog to Cyphr's lender-matching flow, though Lendio is broader in product coverage and operates more as an application-orchestration platform than an AI-driven readiness scorer.
• Nav: Business credit profile and SMB financing marketplace, providing business owners with credit reports and lender matches. Nav's data-and-matching model is closely aligned with Cyphr's readiness-and-matching thesis, although Nav leans on traditional credit data while Cyphr emphasizes alternative transaction-data scoring.
• Fundbox: SMB working capital and payments platform using cash-flow and invoice data to underwrite credit. Fundbox's alternative-data underwriting approach and SMB focus make it a close functional peer and potential lender-side partner.
• Biz2Credit: SMB lending marketplace and scoring platform serving small businesses and lending partners. Biz2Credit's model of combining SMB borrower profiling with lender matchmaking across multiple loan products overlaps directly with Cyphr's marketplace design.
• Fundera: SMB lending marketplace (acquired by NerdWallet) connecting small business owners with bank, SBA, and alternative lenders. Fundera's matching-and-intake workflow maps to Cyphr's For Lenders and For Business Owners modules.
• BlueVine: SMB-focused online lender providing working capital, lines of credit, and checking accounts to small businesses. BlueVine is comparable as a digitally-native SMB capital provider that would be a likely lender counterparty on Cyphr's matched-deal flow.

Others

• Plaid: Bank-data aggregation infrastructure connecting consumer and business financial accounts to applications. Plaid is comparable as the underlying data layer that Cyphr depends on for bank transaction scoring and is a key infrastructure partner or potential competitor depending on Plaid's roadmap.

Broad incumbents

• Experian Business: Major credit bureau with business credit reporting, analytics, and small-business credit products. Experian is the type of incumbent most likely to compete with Cyphr on the FICO SBSS replacement opportunity at scale.
• Dun & Bradstreet: Long-established business credit bureau and data analytics provider serving SMB and enterprise underwriting. D&B's PAYDEX and other scores are the legacy SMB credit primitives that Cyphr's 0-300 alternative attempts to displace or complement for the under-scored long tail.

Emerging players

• Hello Alice: SMB support platform connecting small business owners with capital, grants, and resources, with a particular emphasis on underserved founders. Hello Alice is comparable as a multi-sided SMB capital access platform, though its strengths are community and grant matching rather than AI underwriting.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cyphr