Exclusive: Zest AI snags $200 million growth investment from Insight Partners

December 13, 2024

The Zest AI office recently had a bit of a movie moment.

“There couldn’t have been more energy and excitement,” said Zest AI CEO Mike de Vere. “It reminds me of, have you ever seen the movie 300? That’s what was happening. No joke, in the office, a bunch of data scientists, engineers, and client-facing folks were all cheering together because it’s been a heck of a journey.”

The news was straightforward but memorable: Zest AI—a company providing AI-powered credit scoring and underwriting solutions for financial institutions—has received a $200 million growth investment from Insight Partners, the company exclusively told Fortune (after telling the employees, of course). Insight, with TruStage Ventures, led Zest’s Series F back in 2022. Other previous Zest investors include, but aren’t limited to, Northgate Capital, Suncoast Credit Union, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Matrix, Upfront Ventures, and Flybridge, according to Crunchbase.

Founded in 2009, Zest isn’t new, but has found itself exceedingly on-trend in the AI boom. The company’s generative AI-powered “lending intelligence companion” is named Lulu, after an office Corgi. At a time when algorithmic bias is a key AI concern (and is especially true when it comes to use cases in finance and lending), De Vere is aware of the wide range of ethical outcomes AI needs to manage.

“My grandpa was a carpenter, and he had his hammer,” said De Vere, who joined Zest first as COO in 2018, becoming CEO in 2020. “When I apprenticed with him as a young kid, he’d always joke with me: ‘Grandson, this hammer—I could help build a house. We could grow a family, it could be something good. But at the same time, if you get out of line, I’ll hit you over the head with it.’ So, AI is no different. You can do good with it. You can do evil with it.”

This new round from Insight will be used to develop products and chase M&A. But, of course, I had to ask: Is an IPO in the future?

“God, I hope so,” said De Vere. “I don’t actually know, but the next three to five years. We’re only limited by our imagination. This team of people is really excited about the future…I’m really bullish.”

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Allie Garfinkle
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Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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VENTURE DEALS

- Crusoe, a Denver-based AI infrastructure provider, raised $600 million in Series D funding. Founders Fund led the round and was joined by Fidelity, Long Journey Ventures, Mubadala, and others.

- Gigs, a San Francisco-based mobile services operating system, raised $73 million in Series B funding. Ribbit Capital led the round and was joined by Gradient, YC, Speedinvest, and all other existing investors.

- ANYbotics, a Zurich-based AI-powered robotic inspection solutions provider, raised $60 million in funding. Qualcomm Ventures and Supernova Invest led the round and were joined by TDK Ventures and others.

- Sublime Security, a Washington D.C.-based, AI-powered email security platform, raised $60 million in Series B funding. IVP led the round and was joined by Citi Ventures and existing investors Index Ventures, Decibel Partners, and Slow Ventures.

- Evinced, a Palo Alto-based accessible web and mobile development software company, raised $55 million in Series C funding. Existing investor Insight Partners led the round and was joined by Vertex Ventures and existing investors M12, BGV, Capital One Ventures, and Engineering Capital.

- Cala Health, a San Mateo, Calif.-based bioelectronic medicine developer, raised $50 million in funding. Vertex Growth Fund and Nexus NeuroTech Ventures led the round and were joined by Action Potential, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Lightstone, and all other existing investors.

- bsport, a Barcelona-based technology platform for wellness studios, raised €30 million ($31.4 million) in Series B funding. Base10 Partners and Octopus Ventures led the round and were joined by Stanford University and existing investors Seventure Partners and Seed4Soft.

- Flare, a Montreal, Canada-based threat exposure management provider, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Base10 Partners led the round and was joined by Inovia Capital, White Star Capital, and Fonds de solidarité FTQ.

- Twelve Labs, a San Francisco-based video understanding company, raised $30 million in funding from Databricks, SK Telecom, Snowflake Ventures, and others.

- Atlas Card, a New York City-based invite-only concierge service and card, raised $27 million in Series B funding. Michael Gilroy and Gokul Rajaram’s Marathon led the round and were joined by angel investors.

- Embotech, a Zurich-based autonomous driving logistics solutions, raised 23.5 million CHF ($26.4 million) in funding. Emerald Technology Ventures and Yttrium led the round and were joined by BMW i Ventures, Nabtesco Technology Ventures, Sustainable Forward Capital Fund, RKK VC, and existing investors.

- Pleno, a San Diego-based multi-omics diagnostics technology developer, raised $25 million in Series B funding from existing investors Deerfield Management, Foresite Capital, and Medical Excellence Capital.

- Gentrace, a San Francisco-based AI-testing platform, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Matrix Partners led the round and were joined by Headline and K9 Ventures.

- 1m, a New York City-based risk management provider for healthcare organizations, raised $7.3 million in funding. Banner Health led the round and was joined by Cleveland Clinic, Stanford Health Care, St. Charles Health System, and others.

- LaNua Medical, a Dublin-based blood flow technology developer, raised $6.3 million in seed funding. Elkstone and Atlantic Bridge led the round and were joined by Enterprise Ireland and Furthr VC.

- BioSapien, a San Diego-based drug delivery platform, raised $5.5 million in pre-Series A funding. Global Ventures led the round and was joined by Dara Holdings.

- Tuva Health, a New York City-based open-source healthcare data platform, raised $5 million in seed funding. Virtue led the round and was joined by Box Group, Y Combinator, and angel investors.

- FINNY, a New York City-based w platform for financial advisors, raised $4.3 million in seed funding. Maple VC and HNVR led the round and were joined by Crossbeam Ventures, Liquid 2, Y Combinator, and others.

- Yampa, a Paris-based customer service AI agents developer, raised €3 million ($3.1 million) in seed funding. Partech led the round and was joined by angel investors.

- eyva.ai, a Cologne, Germany-based AI-powered product portfolio development and optimization platform for beauty and personal care companies, raised €2.7 million ($2.8 million) in seed funding. Earlybird and WENVEST Capital led the round and were joined by True Global Ventures, xdeck, Wepa Ventures, angel investors, and others.

- AIMon, a Palo Alto-based LLA app development solutions platform, raised $2.3 million in pre-seed funding. Bessemer Venture Partners and Tidal Ventures led the round and were joined by angel investors.

PRIVATE EQUITY

- Hometown Ticketing, a Columbus, Ohio-based digital ticketing provider for schools and other groups and portfolio company of Nexa Equity, merged with Schoolfundr, a St. Paul-based school fundraising platform, as Hometown. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Orbus Software, backed by SilverTree Equity, acquired Capsifi, a Sydney, Australia-based business architecture solutions provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Revolution Sustainable Solutions, a portfolio company of Arsenal Capital Partners, acquired Island Plastics, a Flint, Mich.-based post-consumer recycled film pellets developer. Financial terms were not disclosed.

EXITS

- Comcast Business agreed to acquire Nitel, a Chicago-based network as a service provider, from Cinven. Financial terms were not disclosed.

OTHER

- LiveFreely acquired Sompo Horizon, a New York City-based caregiving benefits provider and subsidiary of Sompo Holdings. Financial terms were not disclosed.

IPOS

- ServiceTitan, a Glendale, Calif.-based business management software provider for services contractors, raised $624.8 million in an offering of 8.8 million shares priced at $71 on the Nasdaq. The company posted $685 million in revenue for the year ending July 31, 2024. Battery Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, ICONIQ Growth, TPG, and Index Ventures back the company.

FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS

- Redesign Health, a New York City-based venture builder, raised $175 million for a new fund focused on healthcare companies.

PEOPLE

- Elevation Capital, a Gurgaon, India-based venture capital firm, added Krishna Mehra as a partner. Previously, he was at Meta.

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Zest gets $200 million AI squeeze