Y Combinator-backed Rulebase Secures $2.1M for Agent Coworker Software

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Published by Stephen Oluwadara at September 17, 2025

Rulebase is Building an AI Co-worker for Fintechs

Rulebase was founded by Nigerian engineers Gideon Ebose and Chidi Williams in 2024. Its AI software, called “agent coworker,” automates back-office workflows, including compliance checks, dispute resolution, and quality assurance.

The platform integrates with platforms like Zendesk, Jira, and Slack to evaluate customer interactions, flag regulatory risks, and trigger follow-ups while maintaining human oversight.

Rulebase focuses on quality assurance in customer support interactions. Traditional financial institutions manually review only a small fraction of calls and messages to ensure compliance. Conversely, Rulebase reviews 100% of interactions automatically.

“We automate workflows that start with a customer interaction, areas we’re already great at handling end-to-end,” CEO Ebose explained. “While much of that is QA, compliance, and disputes tied to customer calls and messages, long-term our goal is to take on as many manual back-office tasks as possible by pulling these fragmented steps and tabs into one coordinated workflow.”

The London-based startup is already deployed at customers, including U.S. business banking platform Rho and a Fortune 50 financial institution. Rulebase claims its software can cut costs by up to 70% and has helped reduce escalations by 30% for Rho.

Meet the Founders and the Next Big Steps

The founders are experienced builders who have worked with notable firms. Ebose was a product lead at Microsoft, while Williams formerly had a stint at Goldman Sachs as a back-end engineer.

The latter previously built tools, including Buzz, an open-source speech-to-text project with over 300,000 downloads and 12,000 GitHub stars. The idea for Rulebase emerged after they observed the inefficiencies in back-office operations of both small and large financial institutions, particularly in regulatory workflows.

For both founders, being among the few African founders building AI tools in Y Combinator brings both pride and perspective. Williams, the CTO, summed up their philosophy this way: “We’re in a moment where small teams can deliver more value, more quickly, than ever before, so limiting yourself to ‘X for Y’ or a narrow vertical feels like a missed opportunity. With AI, it feels obvious that you have to go after something massive. Anything less than the most ambitious version of your idea likely won’t cut it.”

The new capital will enable Rulebase to expand engineering and add new features in fraud investigation, audit preparation, and regulatory reporting.

Main Image: Chidi Williams and Gideon Ebose. Image Credit: Rulebase