A London-based AI due diligence firm today (Wednesday) said it has raised £8 million and was hopeful that the new Labour government would give its business a positive bounce.
The funding round in Xapien was led by private equity firm YFM Equity Partners, bringing its total funding to £14m.
Xapien is billing itself as an AI-powered rival to professional due diligence services offered by Kroll, Ernst & Young and Dow Jones.
It has built a system which uses machine-learned models to extract key information about companies and individuals from unstructured information on the internet.
For example, its AI can compare photographs and identify individuals.
It says its AI model is quicker (“it can do that same job in a few minutes rather than a few days”) and cheaper than legacy players.
Co-founder and CEO Chris Green says:
“The real enabler is not the fact it is cheaper, it is the fact that companies can have it now, rather than wait a week.”
Xapien’s clients include Dow Jones, law firms, risk consulting firms, universities and private wealth firms.
Green says the funds will be used to move into new sectors such as financial services and large corporate partners and grow its footprint in the US, where the bulk of its revenues come from.
On whether its AI technology is biased and prone to bad decisions, Green said: “Our AI surfaces information in order for a human to quickly understand. And then the human can make a decision.”
Earlier this year, David Lammy, now the foreign secretary, said London was becoming the “laundromat of the world”.
Lammy said: "We've been saying that we have to deal with the dirty money that's circulating in London – London becoming the laundromat of the world."
On the new Labour government, Green said:
“The mood music and some of the press releases have been that the Labour government is going to crack down on financial crime and I think they talked about London being the world’s laundromat for money.
“I think all of that is absolutely going to be a following wind for us.”
Lead image: Xapien. Photo: uncredited.
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