Relace, a London-based fintech, has raised $1.6 million (£1.2 million) in pre-seed funding to assist financial firms with regulatory compliance using artificial intelligence. The funding round was led by Boost Capital, with additional backing from Ascension, Koro Capital, and angel investors from companies including JPMorgan, Barclays, Morgan Stanley, OpenAI, and SAP.
The startup, founded by a former lawyer and an AI engineer, has also been chosen for the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Supercharged Sandbox. This programme, supported by Anthropic and Nvidia, enables firms to develop and test advanced AI tools for financial services. Relace was among 21 companies selected from 199 applicants for the programme's second cohort, which is scheduled to run until the end of 2026.
Relace's platform employs AI to identify relevant regulations for financial businesses, evaluate their adherence to these obligations, and highlight potential compliance gaps. Co-founder Justin Peimani stated that the volume of rules has increased over the last decade, with more expected due to AI, cybersecurity, and deglobalisation. He added that technology could help firms utilise existing staff more effectively.
The company plans to use the new funding to hire engineers, broaden its regulatory coverage across the UK, EU, US, and Middle East, and build its commercial team. Relace is currently working with Gemcorp Capital, a private credit investor. Patrick Nyamangunda, Gemcorp Capital's chief compliance officer, reported that tasks typically taking weeks were completed in days across two jurisdictions using the platform.
Co-founder Lyubomira Dimitrova noted that the platform combines AI with conventional software methods and provides references for its conclusions, allowing compliance teams to review and amend results. Peimani emphasised that the ultimate responsibility for meeting regulatory obligations remains with financial firms.