Pre-Seed28 January 2021

ETIQ raises £585k in pre-seed funding from SFC Capital and Innovate UK for product development

The pre-seed round will back research and development as well as sales and marketing expansion.

£585KPre-Seed

ETIQ develops a cloud based software platform that helps financial institutions identify and eliminate bias in their algorithmic decision making models. The technology provides practical solutions to mitigate discrimination while reducing compliance and reputational risk.

ETIQ has secured £585k in pre-seed funding from backers including SFC Capital and Innovate UK to develop its algorithmic bias detection platform. The capital will be directed towards research and development to enhance the system, alongside scaling the company's sales and marketing operations.

Founded in 2019 by Iris Anson and Raluca Crisan after their time at the Zinc VC accelerator, the startup addresses the opaque nature of machine learning models used in financial services. Its cloud-based system offers smaller firms an affordable alternative to traditional consultants when auditing automated decisions.

The business has already established commercial traction through a partnership with SIA Technology. With the fresh capital secured, the team plans to accelerate product development and hire key personnel to support its growth.

From the founder

"Machine learning is more and more integral to products and services we use every day – and to decisions that businesses and governments make about us – but without a widely-accessible way of identifying and eliminating bias, it could cause significant damage to our society by further entrenching discriminatory decision-making despite our best intentions and without us even realising."

Iris Anson

Co-founder at ETIQ

Investor perspective

"The ETIQ team really impressed us with their idea. Machine learning is becoming more and more crucial across all industries, and we need the right tools to ensure that it is developed and deployed correctly. ETIQ has already gained good traction in the market, and we look forward to seeing how they develop."

Rohallah Ghasemi

Investment Executive, SFC Capital