Fast-growing fintech Aveni has secured £12m in fresh investment to accelerate the launch of a new platform designed to help banks, wealth managers and financial advisers monitor the risks posed by AI agents interacting directly with customers.
The funding round was led by PXN Ventures and backed by existing investors including Puma Growth Partners, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide and Scottish Enterprise.
The investment will support further development of Edinburgh-based Aveni’s Unified Assurance Platform and the launch of two new products, Agent Assure and Agent Approve, which have been developed to assess the conduct risk of AI agents operating within regulated financial services environments.
Founded in Edinburgh, Aveni has established itself as a specialist AI provider to the wealth management, financial advice and banking sectors. Its existing products include Aveni Assist, an AI productivity tool for advisers and operational teams, and Aveni Detect, a compliance monitoring platform used by banks, wealth managers and financial advisers across the UK.
The company said the rapid emergence of agentic AI is creating a significant challenge for financial services firms, with many organisations lacking the governance frameworks required to safely deploy AI systems that interact directly with consumers.
According to Aveni, only 2% of firms currently report having adequate AI guardrails in place.
Its new Agent Assure platform is designed to allow firms to monitor AI agent interactions alongside human customer interactions through a single system, providing oversight of consumer outcomes and conduct risk.
Joseph Twigg, CEO of Aveni, said: “The continued confidence shown by our existing investors is a powerful endorsement of the direction we’re taking.
“We have spent seven years building the models, the experience and the regulatory relationships that make us uniquely qualified to solve the hardest problem in AI adoption right now: how do you assure the conduct of an AI agent interacting with a real consumer?
“Agent Assure is our answer — and this investment accelerates our ability to deliver our full platform at scale.”
Aveni has spent more than seven years developing AI tools specifically for UK financial services and has built its own specialist language models, known as FinLLM, using sector-specific data.
The company is also participating in the Financial Conduct Authority’s Supercharged Sandbox programme and has established an Agent Assurance Expert Council to help develop responsible AI governance frameworks for the sector.
For Manchester-based PXN Ventures, the investment also represents a vote of confidence in the growing fintech ecosystem across the North and Scotland.
Alastair Moore at PXN Ventures said: “Aveni is fast becoming financial advisers’ go-to tool for helping them leverage AI in a safe and appropriate way.
“The team now has seven years of live deployments and proprietary models built within the UK financial services sector. Their infrastructure is answering one of the biggest questions in AI adoption: how to manage real client interactions and build trust, so advisers can focus on what they do best.
“We’re proud to support Aveni through multiple PXN funds, including the Praetura Growth VCT, as they continue their growth journey and demonstrate the world-class fintech capabilities of the North of the UK.”
Ben Leslie, investment director at Puma Growth Partners, added: “The impact Aveni is making in deploying AI into UK financial services is already significant, and we continue to see a substantial growth opportunity ahead.
“With agentic AI adoption accelerating and regulators rightly focused on consistent consumer outcomes, robust assurance for AI agents is rapidly becoming a core requirement for the sector.
“As a standout example of Scotland’s growing strength as a technology hub, Aveni is well placed to lead this next phase.”
Kirsty Rutter, fintech investment director at Lloyds Banking Group, said: “Agentic AI represents a significant opportunity for financial services to enhance customer experience through more personalised interactions.
“Aveni is helping firms adopt this technology in a safe and responsible way. We’re pleased to continue supporting Aveni’s ongoing development through investment and partnership.”
