The Startups Raising Money The Old-School Way

For five years, founders Srinivas Njay and Bruce Kim have been building interface.ai and its artificial intelligence powered virtual assistant that helps banking customers do everything from analyze their spending to fill out a mortgage application to open a new credit card. So far, they’ve signed up more than 100 credit unions and small community banks serving 16 million consumers—contracts worth tens of millions in annual revenue.

With AI in his company name and product, CEO Njay has been fielding a stream of calls from venture capitalists—more than 40 over the past several months, he estimates. He’s happy to talk, he says, because at some point, the right investor might help scale up growth. “I’m just dating,’’ Njay says. “We are in a good place, it's not like we need money.’’

That’s because Njay, 37, and CTO Kim, 59, have been able to get their company to this point with just $1 million of their own savings, a $3 million credit line from TMCC, an Indian credit union run by Njay’s father, careful cash and expense management—and crucially—internally generated revenue.

Interface.ai cofounder Srinivas Njay built a powerful virtual financial assistant with just $1 million in capital. The VCs are lining up—but like many self-funded entrepreneurs, he doesn't need them.

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