A class of mortgage marketplaces is leaning into AI to speed up the lending process, with hopes of better serving middle-market deals.  These loans, usually ranging between $5M and $100M, fuel the development of strip malls, small industrial projects and mom-and-pop apartment investments. But the lending market for deals of this size remains vast, decentralized and sometimes overlooked by major players. Founders of these firms promise that a new era of automation, algorithms and artificial intelligence will match borrowers and lenders more efficiently, speeding up dealmaking and connecting the vast middle market of commercial real estate with better deals boasting lower rates —...