As parts of the U.S. are under quarantine, leading to all large gatherings to be canceled, businesses like AREAL.ai have seen the repercussions.

As the Mortgage Bankers Association was set to hold its Technology Solutions 2020 Conference in Los Angeles later this month, digital lending product AREAL.ai was planning on announcing its launch at the now-canceled conference.

HousingWire spoke with AREAL.ai Chief Executive Officer Argun Kilic and Advisor and Senior Vice President of Sales and Business Development Bill Hajjar about how this cancellation impacted the business and its launch.

While it took about a year to code and plan, the duo said the setback has not stopped the company from launching.

“Even though our plans have not significantly changed, the biggest thing we were looking forward to, and expecting to get out of the conference, is the opportunity for face-to-face interaction with targeted executives in the mortgage industry,” Hajjar said to HousingWire. “Every time we have been able to show our demo and explain our product, we have received positive feedback and moved onto the next steps.”

Kilic said the inspiration behind the development of this software was the lack of similar, automatic programs to make an easier end-to-end mortgage approval journey.

What AREAL.ai aims to do is simplify the drawn-out mortgage application process. The goal? Processing with complete accuracy thousands of different financial documents through AI and algorithms – with zero human interaction.

All of this data is provided within seconds or minutes, Kilic said to HousingWire.

“We basically train our system to be able to quantify all the files that are required to be able to underwrite loans,” Kilic said.

“We are alternatives, and technology can instantly understand and detect when a file is right. So, the next thing that we do is pass on the information that underwriters need to be able to write the models for that.”

Despite the Tech Conference being canceled and eliminating one-on-one demos, the company decided to simply restructure it into a soft-launch by opening up its website and sending out update emails last week.

Now, it’s business as usual, with a short-term goal of taking off and leaving the lab phase.

“I think one-on-one interest matters, as well as the interest the from the lenders,” Kilic said. “We’re progressing well on both sides. These lenders see these kinds of solutions here and there, and if they’re calling us back, they really want to know. It’s a good indicator of our direction, and we were hoping to get that traction at MBA, but now we need to do it virtually.”