Aveni raises £11m Series A from Puma Private Equity, Lloyds and Nationwide to develop financial AI
The funding round was led by Puma Private Equity and will support the creation of a financial services-specific large language model.
Share allotment filed at Companies House
Edinburgh-based artificial intelligence firm building sector-specific language models and productivity tools for the financial services industry.
Aveni has secured £11m in a Series A funding round led by Puma Private Equity, with participation from Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, Par Equity, and Scottish Enterprise. The capital will support the development of FinLLM, a financial services-specific large language model, alongside the expansion of the firm's presence across the sector.
Founded in 2018, the company develops artificial intelligence products aimed at improving compliance and productivity for financial institutions. The fresh funding will enable the team to establish a base at the Edinburgh Futures Institute as work progresses on industry-aligned language models.
From the founder
"The financial Services industry does not need AI models that can quote Shakespeare, it needs AI models that deliver transparency, trust and above all correctness. The way to achieve this is to develop small, highly tuned language models, trained on financial services data, reviewed by financial services experts for specific financial services use cases."
Joseph Twigg
CEO at Aveni
Investor perspective
"The impact that Aveni has made in delivering AI solutions to the financial services sector is already significant and there is huge opportunity for growth going forwards. We’re really excited to be backing Joseph, Jamie, Dr. Lexi Birch and the team as they focus on this next phase. With Scotland’s position as a prominent tech hub on the rise and with the increased regulatory burden on financial services businesses, we believe that Aveni is in a unique position to solve key challenges faced by the sector."
Ben Leslie
Investment Director, Puma Private Equity
Use of funds
- 01Continue product development
- 02Fund research and development
Investors
Ben Leslie
Puma Private Equity
Robin Scher
Lloyds Banking Group
Samuel White
Nationwide
Par Equity
Scottish Enterprise