Startup Circle: How has PiChain Labs using AI-Blockchain to ensure Compliance Management?

To keep an organization or a company up to date in the financial market, it needs to implement (and follow) rules, policies and laws. But the policies and banking compliances are complex processes. RegTech PiChain aims to make compliance sustainable.

They research and develop DeepTech systems that can proactively learn, solve, and automate complex compliance problems for financial institutions. By leveraging the combined strength of AI and Blockchain, the startup aims to disrupt the FinTech industry. It helps compliance and regulatory professionals to make better decisions by ensuring up to a 93% reduction in False Positives. Read Mr Shubhradeep Nandi, Founder, PiChain Labs talk about how the startup is reshaping the technology industry in 2021.

What is PiChain Lab about?

PiChain Labs is regulatory technology (RegTech) that focuses on making compliance more sustainable. We started in 2018, with the deep domain expertise to harness the power of cutting-edge technology like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain to ensure Sustainable Compliance Management. We aim to augment Compliance and Regulatory professionals to help make better decisions in real-time. The startup specializes in a host of compliance processes that include:

• Complete e-Onboarding compliance including Digital & Video KYC for both retail and entities, AML/CFT due diligence, Comprehensive Risk Assessment and Ranking, Facilitation of information to make better credit assessment, e-Contracts, e-Signatures.
• Transaction Screening and monitoring, Regulatory reporting, Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) & CRS.
• The company provides solutions to help Small Finance Banks, NBFC, MFI’s and new-age fintech in their journey to onboard the next billion Indians from ‘Bharat’.

We further help businesses to accomplish 100% compliance to onboard the unbanked and underbanked section that is mostly inaccessible to FI’s. Our small yet efficient team believes that the Finance and Banking industry is gradually adopting technology to cater to the growing compliance requirements and regulations. Only cutting-edge technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain can fulfil these requirements. This is how we have brought a revolution even to the Finance sector in India.

What is your business/market growth?

We have witnessed an aggressive upward quarter-on-quarter revenue growth. Our flagship product for Onboarding Compliance released right during the Covid Period. The growth trajectory has been steep. Right during the Q2 and Q3, 2020, the revenue grew over 300% and the Customer base grew by more than 20. We have also received Innovation and POC Grants from leading brands including Rolls Royce and Societe Generale France. We also closed on their Seed Round with InnovationQore, DST Systems, F10 Singapore, and RV & Associates.

Tell us about your flagship product/service. How is it different from other products in the market?

DeepPi is the Heart and Mind of our Onboarding SaaS platform. This platform augments Compliance officers to provide faster, better and accurate decisions by rapid knowledge extraction, tacit knowledge capture and precision recommendations. It uses a plethora of topnotch AI algorithms and Blockchain modules customised to perform best together. The Uniqueness of DeepPi from other products/services in the market:

• Augmented human enterprise (5% to 95%): Double the productivity with the same team size, Zero dearth of skilled resources.
• Knowledge cross-pollination:  Double the productivity with the same team size, Zero dearth of skilled resources.
• Cutting edge technology: Unified platform for all stakeholders, groundbreaking speed

What are the AI and Analytics techniques that you use?

PiChain uses a mix of advanced AI methodologies like - Deep Reinforcement algorithms which are coupled with Natural Language Processing and Convolution Neural Networks; and works on a reinforcement based algorithm. DeepPi - developed using Self Learning and Reinforcement methodologies of Artificial Intelligence.

Tell us about your recent funding and revenues. What are your next 5 year plans?

We have been witnessing an upward quarter-on-quarter revenue growth trajectory of more than 300%, basis the multiple clients in their kitty. The company has received funding from leading brands as mentioned before. We have been making revenue since the launch of our Bharat focussed initiative in May 2020 right amidst the pandemic. Our plans for the next 5 years:

• To completely disrupt the risk and compliance market
• First step is to ensure that Onboarding service is facilitated to every persona of the country.
• Enabling fintech, helping them to do Persona driven onboarding seamlessly from the remotest corners of the country

How has the pandemic been for your startup?

We launched our fully digital onboarding SaaS platform in May 2020. We have already acquired multiple FinTechs, NBFC’s. Over 30+ Financial Institutions currently use our onboarding solution within a short span of 9 months for their various Onboarding needs. We also more than doubled our employee base in India.