TLDR: Derby-based Vigilant AI.ai has successfully raised £585,000 in pre-seed funding to advance its ‘AI Teammates’ platform, designed to integrate generative AI into regulated enterprise workflows with built-in real-time compliance and auditability. The investment, led by B2B SaaS investor Haatch with participation from the East Midlands Combined County Authority and the British Business Bank, aims to address the ‘trust gap’ preventing widespread AI adoption in sectors like financial services by ensuring AI-driven decisions adhere to strict regulatory standards.
Vigilant AI.ai, a Derby-headquartered technology firm, has announced a significant pre-seed funding round, securing £585,000 to further develop its innovative compliant AI solutions for regulated businesses. The investment round was spearheaded by B2B SaaS specialist investor Haatch, with additional contributions from the East Midlands Combined County Authority and the British Business Bank. This capital injection is set to accelerate the company’s mission to bridge the ‘trust gap’ that has hindered the broader adoption of generative AI within highly regulated sectors such as financial services, fintech, and insurance.
Founded in 2024, Vigilant AI.ai specializes in creating ‘AI Teammates’ – generative AI agents that seamlessly integrate into existing enterprise workflows. These AI Teammates are distinguished by their purpose-built design for regulated teams, operating within continually active, real-time compliance guardrails. This ensures that every AI-driven decision adheres to required governance and policy standards, a critical factor for firms navigating complex regulatory landscapes. The platform also generates immutable audit trails, providing the necessary transparency and accountability.
Co-founder and CTO Mark Wood highlighted the genesis of Vigilant AI.ai, stating, “As a Big Four and strategy consulting partner, I saw financial-services firms consistently struggle to turn promise into reality with AI. The use cases were there, but regulated businesses lacked the real-time governance needed for true change. Mike and I created Vigilant AI.ai to solve that problem. Our platform gives regulated firms AI teammates, with real-time guardrails, that deliver the promised productivity and the trust they were missing, so they can finally turn strategy into delivery.” He further added, “Our platform enables people in the business to onboard AI Teammates where work happens, whilst real-time guardrails and audit logs protect and govern. Customers gain AI productivity at speed, with regulatory-compliant trust.”
Mike Anyfantakis, co-founder and CPO at Vigilant AI.ai, emphasized the client demand for rapid deployment: “We’re already finalising our first pilots, and it is clear that clients want to go live fast. They are keen to create and collaborate with their AI teammates in their everyday work, at speed. By making compliance an always-on, real-time feature, we give financial services and other regulated firms confidence to deploy AI agents in their team workflows.”
The newly acquired funds will be strategically allocated to several key areas. These include expanding the team by hiring skilled engineering and go-to-market professionals, productizing the platform for a broader rollout by adding intuitive controls, enterprise-grade security certifications, and self-service onboarding capabilities. A significant objective is also to convert ongoing pilot projects into revenue-generating operations by the fourth quarter of 2025, alongside facilitating further deployments with regulated clients.
Also Read:
- GitLaw Secures $3 Million Pre-Seed Funding to Advance AI-Powered Contract Automation for Businesses
- Portal26 Secures $9 Million Series A to Advance Enterprise Generative AI Governance and Security
Fred Soneya, Partner at Haatch, expressed confidence in Vigilant AI.ai’s potential, noting, “We back founders solving deep, universal pains in B2B SaaS. Vigilant AI.ai tackles the biggest blocker to enterprise GenAI adoption: provable trust. Their real-time compliance layer is exactly what our fintech and financial-services network has been asking for.” The combination of private venture capital and public-backed capital underscores a growing trend in the UK to support early-stage AI startups and de-risk their scaling efforts, particularly those addressing critical issues like AI safety and governance.
