Edinburgh-based AI fintech Aveni — which creates large language models — has announced one of the largest Series A investments in a Scottish business this year that amounts to £11 million.
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 said it combines AI expertise with extensive financial services experience to create large language models (LLMs) and AI products designed specifically for the financial services industry.
“Aveni is trusted by some of the UK’s leading financial services firms, seeing significant business growth over the past two years, through existing compliance and productivity solutions Aveni Detect & Aveni Assist,” said Aveni .
“This investment will enable Aveni to build on the success of existing products, further establishing its presence across the financial services sector and introducing revolutionary technology through the creation of FinLLM, a financial services specific large language model. FinLLM is being developed in partnership with new investors Lloyds Banking Group and Nationwide.
“FinLLM is an industry-aligned Large Language Model, aiming to set the standard for the transparent, responsible and ethical adoption of Generative AI across UK financial services,” The funding will further establish Aveni’s market leading position in artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for UK financial services businesses, to drive the adoption of generative AI across the sector.”
Aveni CEO Joseph Twigg said: “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.
“Generative AI represents the most significant technological evolution of our generation and we’re in the nascent stages of adoption. This presents a significant opportunity for Aveni and our partners. The objective with FinLLM is to set a new standard for the controlled, responsible and ethical adoption of Generative AI, outperforming all other generic models across our selected financial service use cases.” Post investment, the team developing FinLLM will be based at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, in a state-of-the-art facility.
Ben Leslie, Investment Director, Puma Private Equity, said: “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.”
Robin Scher, Head of Fintech Investments, Lloyds Banking Group, said: “Aveni’s cutting-edge AI solutions offer a huge opportunity for the financial services industry, streamlining operations and elevating the customer experience. We are keen to support Aveni’s growth as we invest in their vision to develop the FinLLM alongside partners. Our collaboration aims to establish Aveni as a frontrunner of the industry’s adoption of AI, whilst maintaining a focus on responsible usage and customer-centricity.”
Samuel White, Venture Partner, NBS Ventures, Nationwide, said: “NBS Ventures has been closely monitoring Aveni for some time and we’re excited to invest in the team. The investment will enable Nationwide to work closely with world-leading experts to responsibly and ethically utilise Generative AI to deliver better service and outcomes for our Members.”