Rulebase Raises $2.1M to Automate Financial Services Back-Office
TLDR
- Rulebase, a Y Combinator-backed startup founded by Nigerian engineers Gideon Ebose and Chidi Williams, has raised $2.1 million in pre-seed funding led by Bowery Capital
- Rulebase builds AI software it calls an “agent coworker” that automates back-office workflows such as compliance checks, dispute resolution, and quality assurance
- The company will use the funding to expand engineering and add new features in fraud investigation, audit preparation, and regulatory reporting
Rulebase, a Y Combinator-backed startup founded by Nigerian engineers Gideon Ebose and Chidi Williams, has raised $2.1 million in pre-seed funding led by Bowery Capital with participation from Y Combinator, Commerce Ventures, Transpose Platform VC, and angel investors.
Founded in 2024, Rulebase builds AI software it calls an “agent coworker” that automates back-office workflows such as compliance checks, dispute resolution, and quality assurance. The system integrates with platforms like Zendesk, Jira, and Slack to evaluate customer interactions, flag regulatory risks, and trigger follow-ups while maintaining human oversight.
The startup is already deployed at customers, including U.S. business banking platform Rho and a Fortune 50 financial institution. Rulebase says its software can cut costs by up to 70% and has helped reduce escalations by 30% for Rho.
The company will use the funding to expand engineering and add new features in fraud investigation, audit preparation, and regulatory reporting.
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Key Takeaways
Financial services firms globally spend billions annually on compliance, customer disputes, and quality assurance, with many processes still handled manually. In the U.S. alone, regulatory compliance costs banks an estimated $50 billion per year, according to Accenture. Startups like Rulebase are targeting this overlooked segment, betting that AI’s biggest wins may lie in back-office automation rather than consumer-facing chatbots. Rulebase’s approach is to monitor 100% of customer service interactions — far more than the 3–5% typically reviewed by human analysts — while automatically enforcing compliance with rules from regulators and card networks. The founders believe this precision focus creates defensibility in a crowded AI market. While financial services is the initial target, similar workflows exist in insurance and other regulated industries, giving Rulebase room to expand. If it succeeds, the company could become part of the “invisible” infrastructure layer powering automation behind the next wave of digital financial institutions.
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