The American Bankers Association (ABA) on Tuesday announced investments in Monit, a small business insight platform, and Posh, which provides artificial intelligence-based virtual agents designed for financial institutions.
The two new venture investments highlight ABA’s ongoing support for businesses and technologies that promise to help banks succeed, the association said, noting that its board of directors approved the investments.
“ABA is committed to supporting the bank of the future through responsible innovation, and part of that commitment includes strategic investments to benefit both our members and the banking industry as a whole,” said ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols. “Monit and Posh represent tangible solutions that align with where the market is heading and are already used by several of our members.”
Needham, Mass.-based Monit was started through Eastern Bank’s technology incubator. It is a two-sided platform that offers small businesses and bankers insight into small business clients’ financial condition and needs, according to the ABA.
Monit’s cash management and digital CFO tools are designed to help community banks deliver a valuable service to their small business customers, who are an ongoing focus for ABA and banks across the country.
The association also said that the ability to offer the latest technology to small business customers is particularly important for any sized bank that faces increasing competition from non-bank lenders to serve small businesses.
“We are pleased to have ABA as an investor,” said Steve Dow, Monit co-founder and CEO. “Monit’s mission is to help banks win in the increasingly competitive small business market, and ABA’s investment will support us on that journey.”
Boston-based Posh, founded in 2018, develops AI-based virtual agents that are built specifically for financial institutions, offering always-available conversational experiences across voice, digital and knowledge channels, the ABA said.
Posh’s mission is to accelerate the responsible adoption of AI for financial institutions to best serve their communities.
“As Posh has continued to make inroads within the community banking segment, we are thrilled to have secured funding from ABA,” said Karan Kashyap, Posh co-founder and CEO. “With this new capital, we’re poised to accelerate our growth and continue to lead the AI advancements in banking.”
Posh’s product set is consistent with banks’ risk-based approaches to AI implementation, the ABA said, and offers a knowledge management tool that can be deployed internally for more efficient and accurate customer service, as well as customer-facing virtual assistants that can be implemented over time.