The lending and credit scoring sector have more data than ever before at their disposal. How they leverage this data to create value for their clients and social impact determines the outcomes they can achieve in the financial services space. In 1959, Arthur Samuel, a pioneer in the field of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence during an era when computers filled an entire building, defined machine learning as "a field of study that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed." During a recent keynote, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella referred to data used in this context as "the new electricity," calling our current era a "fourth industrial revolution" following steam, electricity and digital technology. Scott Guthrie, Microsoft executive vice president, also acknowledged that data is "enabling every business to be the disrupters of their industry by harnessing the power to drive insight from this data."

When considering a startup, especially an early-stage startup, investors want to conduct as much due diligence as possible. What little data they can gather is scattered all over different sources including Crunchbase, LinkedIn, Pitchbooks, company websites, etc. Consolidating this data takes a great amount of time and effort. Furthermore, the data sets can be incomplete or biased depending on the search queries -- imagine overlooking a keyword. To make the due diligence process fairer and less cumbersome for investors, various platforms are using machine learning (ML) to pull together information about startups from all available resources to help investors assess companies and investment opportunities. But where machine learning really shines is in the interplay of data-driven insights that are qualified by human intuition and personal experience.

The lending and credit scoring sector have more data than ever before at their disposal. How they leverage this data to create value for their clients and social impact determines the outcomes they can achieve in the financial services space. In 1959, Arthur Samuel, a pioneer in the field of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence during an era when computers filled an entire building, defined machine learning as "a field of study that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed." During a recent keynote, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella referred to data used in this context as "the new electricity," calling our current era a "fourth industrial revolution" following steam, electricity and digital technology. Scott Guthrie, Microsoft executive vice president, also acknowledged that data is "enabling every business to be the disrupters of their industry by harnessing the power to drive insight from this data."