Fintech
Lloyds and Nationwide back Edinburgh fintech’s £11m funding round for AI innovation in finance
Aveni CEO Joseph Twigg, with COO Jamie Hunter and the head of Aveni Labs
Dr. Lexi Birch
Edinburgh-based AI fintech Aveni.ai has raised £11m in Series A funding.
The funding round was led by Puma Private Equity with participation from Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide and existing investors Par Equity and Scottish Enterprise.
Aveni combines world-renowned AI expertise with deep financial services experience to create large language models (LLMs) and AI products specifically designed for the financial services industry (‘vertically aligned’). Aveni is used by some of the UK’s leading financial services firms that have seen significant business growth over the past two years, through its existing compliance and productivity solutions Aveni Detect and Aveni Assist.
This investment will allow Aveni to build on the success of its existing products, further consolidate its presence in the financial services sector and introduce a revolutionary technology through the creation of FinLLM, a large-scale language model specifically for financial services.
FinLLM is being developed in partnership with new investors Lloyds Banking Group and Nationwide. FinLLM is a large, industry-aligned language model that aims to set the standard for transparent, responsible and ethical adoption of generative AI in UK financial services. The funding will further establish Aveni’s market-leading position in artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for UK financial services firms, to drive adoption of generative AI in the industry.
Following the investment, the team developing the FinLLM will be based at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, in a state-of-the-art facility.
Joseph Twigg, CEO of Aveni, explained: “The financial services industry doesn’t need AI models that can quote Shakespeare, but AI models that ensure transparency, trust and, above all, fairness.
“The way to achieve this is to develop small, highly optimized language models, trained on financial services data and reviewed by financial services experts for specific financial services use cases.
“Generative AI represents the most significant technological evolution of our generation and we are in the early stages of adoption. This represents a significant opportunity for Aveni and our partners. The goal with FinLLM is to set a new standard for the controlled, responsible and ethical adoption of generative AI, surpassing all other generic models in our selected financial services use cases.”
Ben Leslie, Investment Director at Puma Private Equity, commented: “The impact Aveni has had in providing AI solutions to the financial services industry is already significant and there is huge opportunity for growth in the future. We are very excited to support Joseph, Jamie, Dr Lexi Birch and the team as they focus on this next phase.
“With Scotland’s position as a major emerging technology hub and the increasing regulatory burden on financial services firms, we believe Aveni is uniquely positioned to solve the key challenges facing the sector.”
Robin Scher, head of fintech investments at Lloyds Banking Group, said: “Aveni’s cutting-edge AI solutions offer a huge opportunity for the financial services industry, streamlining operations and improving the customer experience.
“We look forward to supporting Aveni’s growth as we invest in their vision of developing FinLLM together with partners. Our collaboration aims to establish Aveni as a forerunner in AI adoption in the industry, while maintaining a focus on responsible use and customer centricity.”
Samuel White, venture partner at NBS Ventures, Nationwide, commented: “NBS Ventures has been closely monitoring Aveni for some time and we are excited to invest in the team.
“The investment will enable Nationwide to collaborate closely with world-leading experts to responsibly and ethically use generative AI to deliver better services and outcomes for our members.”