FinanceGPT was founded in 2020 by Phiwa Nkambule and Sibo Mkhont; they serve as the CEO and CFO of the company respectively. The startup is a generative AI tool established to assist firms accounting analysis.
In the last 2 years, they have expanded, attracting various customers, including investment bankers and financial workers looking to speed up their accounting reporting. Being amongst the 2023 Startup Battlefield 200 cohort, FinanceGPT leverages its AI model assets and GPT-4 to develop accounting ratios that reveal the general status of a business, predict future conduct, and forecast valuations from the financial information entered.
The CEO Phiwa Nkambule, said, “It generates a shareable financial analytics dashboard and text-based reports depending on the company’s data and user requests. We started by helping startups organize their finances for investor readiness, but we have seen a demand from portfolio managers, retail traders, and company finance teams, who use it to run their investment business or manage their portfolios.”
The CEO further revealed that despite having customers from around the world, their major focus is the African continent. The startup is presently operating on FinanceGPT Patches, involving three lean language models to seal the accounting data gaps and biases of sizeable language models (LLMs) such as GPT-4 on emerging markets.
For example, the FinanceGPT-SSA model is made to be skilled in local African languages, plus to ensure apt accounting insights on Sub-Saharan African markets. Typical models are being developed for the Middle East and North Africa, including Asia-Pacific.
Nkambule said, “They are small language models that will work hand in hand with other foundational models to fill the gap that is left by large language models when it comes to developing countries. We know that the macro-economic dynamics are very unique and different in these regions and we want to ensure that this is well captured.”
By utilizing voice-aided services, the startup will be operating an accounting voice assistant that will be proficient in some continental languages to provide accounting advisory services. This will be accessible through its own digital channel, and collaborate with financial firms aiming to expand to customers in local areas.
FinanceGPT has been a member of Nvidia Inception right from last year October and is leveraging its technology. The Nvidia representative said, “Nvidia technology helps empower startups so they can unlock new generative AI applications for a variety of industries. FinanceGPT is utilizing Nvidia GPUs and NeMo SDK as a foundation for a distinctive solution that utilizes generative AI to help address limited accessibility and costs associated with financial advice and consultant services.”
