Zehitomo used the RFC Venture Debt Fund to apply AI analysis, shortening the screening process to approximately 1 month and securing a loan in the tens of millions of yen. Conventional bank screening often took 3 months or longer.
As bank loan screening tends to be a major hurdle for startups, Zehitomo overcame the financing barrier by adopting a data-driven lending approach. Following an introduction from Resona Bank, it used the RFC Venture Debt Fund operated by Fivot, with AI analyzing its creditworthiness and future prospects, which are not apparent from financial statements alone.
The initiative is reported to have shortened the period until loan disbursement from the conventional benchmark of 3 months to approximately 1 month. The aim was to supplement the working capital of a business approaching profitability by expanding its funding. The loan reportedly amounted to tens of millions of yen.