Beem (previously known as Line) is a profitable AI-first fintech company that accurately risk ranks over 100 million who form the bottom 80% of the US working population without using FICO. And Beem uses this to facilitate payments, distribution of goods and services, risk-adjusted prices, and relevant inflection points in their financial journey while continuing to capture the $10+ trillion in annual spending power they have. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Beem founder and CEO Akshay Krishnaiah to learn more.
Akshay Krishnaiah’s Background
Krishnaiah previously worked as the leading inventor at PayPal for years and secured dozens of patents. And Krishnaiah said:
“I had the opportunity to reimagine services for the underbanked and underserved. However, I quickly realized that incumbents and new fintech entrants, however well-intentioned, were mostly looking at the problem from a product, engineering, or business opportunity. They lacked the customer’s point of view because most of them had never been in financial harm’s way and were far from the everyday realities that millions face. Seeing all the resources spent competing for the same look-a-like customers was frustrating.”
“A fan of Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, the seminal book that narrates how Phil Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman, both athletes who started Nike after being frustrated by the lack of an athlete’s point of view in their era’s sportswear monoliths, I felt something similar could be done in financial services.”
“To better understand the community I wished to serve, I took a hiatus from my tech career and re-embedded myself in the community. I spent over a year in the community driving Uber and Lyft. I drove over 36,000 miles in the extended San Francisco Bay Area from Fresno to Folsom, living with the community, learning about their everyday predicament, how they tackle them, what’s working, and what’s not working. Inspired and armed with these real-world insights, seeded in 2020, has now become Beem.”
Formation Of Beem
How did the idea for Beem come together? Krishnaiah shared:
“Beem App (FKA Line App) was born out of a profound commitment to tackle financial exclusion and inequality. Founded as Line Financial, PBC, in 2020 and launching in the Fall of 2021, marked a new era in financial accessibility. Driven by personal experiences of witnessing severe financial hardships and exclusion faced by my family during my childhood, I garnered extensive insights such as how over 100M people have their risk profile (needed for everything from rent to paying for medicines) mislabeled or never labeled at all — from my tenure working with PayPal, BillMeLater, Xoom, Braintree, and Venmo but also pausing my career to become a full-time Uber and Lyft driver in the SF Bay Area, covering Fresno to Folsom, over 36,000 miles of passenger rides.”
“This hiatus was not merely a break but a deeply immersive research initiative. By embedding in the community, I experienced firsthand the financial realities and challenges faced by the very individuals we aimed to serve. Astonishingly, my interactions revealed a pervasive problem — not just among fellow drivers but also with an overwhelming majority of my passengers. A staggering 7 out of every 10 passengers, even those holding full-time W2 jobs in affluent regions like the Bay Area, resonated with the financial strains and vulnerabilities we sought to alleviate.”
“Inspired and armed with these real-world insights, Beem was designed as a lifeline. It offers emergency funds without the strings of interest, credit checks, or historical credit prerequisites. Beyond this, Beem equips users with a comprehensive suite of financial tools, available through an affordable monthly subscription. Within its inaugural year, Beem’s impact has been monumental, with over 5 million downloads, close to 2 million users, and changing the financial landscape for millions of working Americans while having processed over $100 million in funds without raising any debt as a Seed Stage fintech thanks to the AI we have developed. With its innovative AI capabilities, Beem remains dedicated to redefining financial inclusion, steering clear of outdated risk assessment tools like FICO or payslips.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for Beem so far? Krishnaiah reflected:
Beem came out of stealth in the Fall of 2021 and has been downloaded over 5 million times, with 2 million registered users who have avoided financial emergencies millions of times via the Beem App that has now seen a throughput of over $100 million in such a short duration while profitably ending FY2022 despite macroeconomic conditions.”
“But, most importantly, this has given us an incredible opportunity in partnership with our users to study their financial life from early pandemic to post-pandemic to early inflation, helping us understand their predicament during acute financial stress, how they managed during this time, and where they need the most support, allowing us to carefully craft the next phase of our journey in service of our users.”
Challenges Faced
What are some of the challenges you face in building the company, and has the current macroeconomic climate had any effect on the company? Krishnaiah acknowledged:
“The most fundamental challenge we have faced and continue to face in building this company is ‘perception’ — the perception that the segment of society that we are helping cannot be helped. The perception that you cannot have a viable/profitable business helping this population.”
“Fortunately for us, we have the metrics to change this perception. We have recycled $3 million of our own balance sheet millions of times since coming out of stealth in the Fall of 2021, delivering and recapturing a total of $100 million without using any debt while preventing millions of financial emergencies faced by working Americans and became profitable the end of FY2022, despite the macroeconomic climate.”
Core Products
What are Beem’s core products and features? Krishnaiah explained:
“Beem is a comprehensive financial app designed to cater to your needs. With features like Everdraft, where you schedule to set money for a rainy day but if the rainy day occurs ahead of time, then you can early debit it without interest, credit checks or even due dates, you can add money for free and send it to anyone for free even those without a bank account, Beem has you covered.”
“Our app ensures compatibility with other platforms and offers up to 20% cashback rewards. Additionally, we provide a personalized AI-powered budgeting tool called BFF — The Better Financial Feed — that helps you avoid fees, pay bills on time, reduce your insurance premiums and more. Enjoy free tax filing, credit score monitoring, and identity theft protection as a Beem user. Our mission is to empower you with the tools and resources for financial success and security.”
Evolution Of Beem’s Technology
How has Beem’s technology evolved since launching? Krishnaiah noted:
“Beem is a top 50 direct-to-consumer fintech app with over 5 million downloads that has helped millions of working Americans avoid financial emergencies millions of times while becoming profitable by the end of FY 2022.”
“The success of Beem was built on the back of the Beem AI Platform developed in-house as an intelligent self-evolving modular service layer on top of traditional pipes of Customer Acquisition, Identity Verification, Transactions, Fraud Systems, Risk Management Systems, Behavioral Data Systems, and Payments Processing Systems.”
“Beem ($5 million Series Seed Q2 2022) was able to recycle $3 million of its balance sheet and move $100 million through its platform without raising any debt at 121% Net IRR, thanks to the Beem AI Platform.”
“Beem is looking to unleash the power of Beem AI Platform and has already partnered with over 100 insurers, over 50 Banks, over 30 Lenders, and multiple Credit Unions.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of Beem’s most significant milestones? Krishnaiah cited:
“Introducing Beem to the public in the Fall of 2021 was a thrilling milestone in our journey. In just over a year, our Customer Acquisition AI block has helped us show up a billion times in searches performed by 100 million working Americans, we have gained an impressive 5 million downloads thanks to this and have nearly 2 million registered working Americans.”
“Additionally, we have successfully prevented millions of financial emergencies for these working Americans while becoming profitable end of FY2022, which is a major accomplishment for our company.”
“But what excites us the most is what the future holds for us and our AI building blocks with their potential to rapidly expand the economy while equitably distributing goods, services and facilitating payments.”
Customer Success Stories
Upon asking Krishnaiah about customer success stories, he replied:
“In a little over a year since coming out of stealth, we’ve been able to help millions of people like our customer Jenny. Hailing from Iowa, Jenny is a homemaker who had never applied for credit or had a bank account outside of a joint account with her husband, who passed away while serving in the US Army.”
“Jenny was thrown into a new world where she had to pick up the pieces of her family’s financial life while raising her three daughters, living off the proceeds of her Etsy shop, VA benefits and child credits. Most innovative financial companies designed to help the underserved refused to help her because she did not have a steady paycheck or a traditional work arrangement.”
“Households across the country are feeling this pain, and we’re proud to be building a new system from the ground up that helps uplift millions more like Jenny. I truly believe that Line will continue to be a game-changer for millions of underserved Americans. We encourage you to join us in this journey by being part of our team, our network of investors, and supporters or simply by telling more people, like your plumber, gardener, uber driver, barista, maids and more, about Beem.”
Funding/Revenue
After asking Krishnaiah about funding and revenue, he revealed:
“Beem raised $5 million Series Seed in Q2 of 2022 and since then has recycled $3 million of its own balance sheet to deliver and recapture funds greater than $100 million on its platform without raising any debt at a net IRR of 121% via its subscription and transaction-based revenue streams while profitably ending FY2022.”
“Beem has been able to achieve this thanks to reinventing the entire traditional FinTech Stack using its self-evolving AI Service layer, now known as Beem AI Platform.”
“Beem is looking to unleash the power of the Beem AI Platform to others and has already partnered with over 100 insurers, 50 Banks, 30 Lenders and multiple Credit Unions to do the same.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is Beem pursuing? Krishnaiah assessed:
“Over 1 billion working individuals worldwide have their Risk Profile mislabeled or unlabeled due to outdated systems and perceptions. We look at this population that is seeing the fastest growth in annual spending power (currently 100 million of them reside in the US with a current annual spending power of over $10 trillion) as our TAM and hope to actively service 100 million of them worldwide on a recurring basis every month by 2045, uplifting them financially while moving over $10 trillion of their assets on systems powered by the Beem AI Platform and capturing a piece of it every time it passes through.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Beem from its competition? Krishnaiah affirmed:
“Very early on in its journey, the Beem Team of experienced fintech operators and inventors realized that, like most fintechs relying on traditional pipes of Customer Acquisition, ID Verification, KYC, AML, Fraud, Risk or Payments, would be insufficient for what we were trying to do. We started with a foundation of self-evolving AI layer on top of these traditional pipes that has rapidly evolved into AI building blocks with exceptional results, such as AUC and KS numbers that continue to get closer to 1, while helping Beem recycle its seed funds to a point where it has now moved $100 million through its platform in a little over a year while ending FY2022 profitable.”
“These AI building blocks that now power everything on Beem from Customer Acquisition to Payments are ready to power customer acquisition for insurers or perform ID verification for FinTechs or help credit unions understand as well as better underwrite their customers without the need for outdated scores or process payments for MSMEs. But most importantly, it can be combined in many ways to rapidly empower and expand the economy. This is what differentiates Beem from its competitors and sets it apart for the foreseeable future.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of Beem’s future company goals? Krishnaiah concluded:
“Our primary goal is to equitably expand the economy using our homegrown, self-evolving Beem AI Platform with in-built equity enablers to power the top 50 FinTech apps like our own Beem, as well as others.”
“As innovators, we need to be aware of the challenges faced by people we seek to help, and we must endeavor to pursue lived experiences to uncover these challenges. Otherwise, our solutions will fall short. Technology can only solve a problem up to a certain point, so we have to take relevant steps to bridge the gap by embedding ourselves in the communities we seek to help and relying on our lived experiences to inform ourselves and our teams. This is the #1 reason for Beem’s success, and it is how the company continues to equitably expand the economy.”
