CarbonAI, an agentic AI platform for commercial real estate lending, has raised US$12 million in a funding round led by Cowboy Ventures. The investment includes participation from Timber Grove Ventures, Bling Capital, and Max Ventures. The company will use the capital to expand AI agents that automate underwriting, due diligence, and post-close monitoring across the life of a commercial real estate loan.
Automating a Manual and Costly Lending Process
Commercial real estate represents a US$20 trillion market in the United States, yet much of its lending work still depends on spreadsheets and manual document reviews. The Mortgage Bankers Association reports that US$875 billion in commercial mortgages will mature in 2026, creating a significant workload for lenders. Industry teams already spend an estimated US$50 billion annually to underwrite new and existing loans, and many teams are not scaling quickly enough to keep pace.
Purpose Built Agents for the Full Loan Lifecycle
CarbonAI's long-horizon agents are designed to handle analytical work that lending teams have traditionally performed by hand. The platform extracts and structures data from rent rolls, leases, financial statements, and legal documents, then builds underwriting models and drafts investment memos automatically. Each output links back to its source document, while decisions requiring human judgment are routed directly to the lending team.
A Response to the Wall of Maturities
CarbonAI's agents also monitor loans continuously after closing to surface risks before they escalate. This replaces the manual quarterly review process that often delays visibility into borrower stress and changing property performance. The company argues that proactive surveillance is becoming essential as lenders manage a rising volume of maturities and refinancing pressure.
Early Traction Among Large Lending Firms
Since launching its first product suite in early 2025, CarbonAI has helped customers save as much as 90% of time on core underwriting tasks such as lease review, financial statement analysis, and loan onboarding. The company achieved seven figures of contractual revenue within six months of that launch. Its customers now include debt funds, mortgage REITs, agency multifamily lenders, and publicly traded financial institutions.
Customer and Founder Perspectives
Mordecai Rosenberg, Co-President of Greystone, described CarbonAI as a natural partner for automating due diligence collection, one of the most significant bottlenecks in underwriting. He noted that the team listened carefully to Greystone's challenges rather than pushing a generic solution. Rosenberg also praised the company's fast shipping and its point of view on where automated commercial real estate work is headed.
Jeff Saul, Co-founder and CEO of CarbonAI, said the company built the tool he and his co-founder needed when they were analysts. He explained that lenders do not need another chat window that they must coach through every step. Instead, they need agents that already know the job, complete it consistently end to end, and show their work.
Founder Expertise and Investor Confidence
Co-founders Jeff Saul and Josh Kaufman began their careers underwriting CRE loans at Starwood Capital, Morgan Stanley, and Guggenheim. They previously built Nativ, a CRE deal management platform used by more than 30 lenders across over US$300 billion of assets under management, before selling it to Built. Caroline Duffy, Partner at Cowboy Ventures, said lenders told her that generic tools do not work in this complex business and that they wanted people from the industry.
The new funding positions CarbonAI to deepen its presence in a commercial real estate lending market that is under increasing pressure to modernize. By automating the analytical core of each loan, the company aims to help lenders make faster decisions without sacrificing review quality. Its early revenue growth and roster of large lending customers suggest that the platform is resonating with an industry ready for specialized AI tools.