FairPlay
Founded 2020 · 25 employees on LinkedIn · 9 known investors
Find your way into FairPlay
495 people in our graph share verified history with the FairPlay team — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.
Shardul Shahunlockedknows Kareem Saleh · together at University of Chicago (overlapped)
×2knows the team · via University of Chicago
knows the team · via Zest AI
×2knows the team · via U.S. Department of State
×5knows the team · via Georgetown Law
knows the team · via Obama for America
FairPlay applies AI to consumer loan underwriting to help lenders assess hard-to-score borrowers and improve financial inclusion. Its focus is fairness and bias testing in AI-driven credit and financial services.
Founders & leadership
FairPlay was founded in 2020 by Kareem Saleh and John Merrill.
KS

Kareem Salehin𝕏Founder & CEOFounder and CEO of FairPlay, Saleh previously served as Executive Vice President at Zest.ai, where he led go-to-market strategy for an AI-powered underwriting platform and managed a $100M installment loan business. He also held executive roles at SoftCard, a mobile payments startup acquired by Google, and served in senior positions in the Obama Administration, including Chief of Staff to the State Department's Special Envoy for Climate Change and Senior Advisor to the CEO of OPIC.
JM
John MerrillinCo-Founder & CTOCo-founder and CTO of Fairplay. John Merrill has led projects across large corporate and startup environments and has experience in technical specification development and executive communications.
AL

Adrian LaiinVP of Marketing & Growth
AH

Abby HoganinSVP of Legal Affairs
MJ

Mark JonesVP of Engineering
PC

Patrick CadicinCOO
ME

Mark EbersteininEVP of Data Science
KG

Kim GerhardtPartnerships
Investors · 9
Fin CapitalSan Francisco · $250K – $15M
Financial Venture StudioSan Jose
Infinity VenturesSan Francisco Bay Area · $500K – $10M
NazcaMexico City
NycaNew York · $2M
Nyca PartnersNew York · $1M – $10M
Restive VenturesSan Jose · $50K – $2.5M
Third PrimeNew York · $500K – $2M
TTV CapitalreportedAtlanta · $250K – $7M
Founder mafia
3 people who came through FairPlay went on to found or lead other companies.
Frequently asked questions
- What does FairPlay do?
- FairPlay applies AI to consumer loan underwriting to help lenders assess hard-to-score borrowers and improve financial inclusion. Its focus is fairness and bias testing in AI-driven credit and financial services.
- Who founded FairPlay?
- FairPlay was founded by Kareem Saleh, John Merrill in 2020.
- Who are FairPlay's investors?
- FairPlay's investors include Fin Capital, Financial Venture Studio, Infinity Ventures, Nazca, Nyca, Nyca Partners, Restive Ventures, Third Prime and 1 more.




.png)


