The founder and CEO of social media powerhouse LADbible has backed Manchester startup Veridox in a £1 million funding round to combat fraudulent insurance claims with AI.
Solly Solomou invested through his Solo Investments Holdings vehicle, joining lead investor Outward VC in the round.
Insurance fraud costs European insurers an estimated €13 billion a year, yet much of it goes undetected.
The InsurTech has developed AI software that analyses documents and images linked to insurance claims, flagging signs of possible manipulation that would otherwise require detailed manual checks.
It says its technology explains what it has detected and why, helping investigators separate legitimate edits, such as added signatures, from malicious tampering.
In one pilot with a $3bn insurer, Veridox’s minimum viable product uncovered £50,000 worth of fraud within seconds.
Founder Dan Sandler, a former solicitor who previously co-founded and exited hospitality payments app Tabb, said: “Document and image fraud is no new challenge for insurers; we can only estimate what the real cost of it is because so many successful fraudulent claims naturally go undetected.
“What we do know is that AI is enabling even ‘novices’ to produce more convincing fakes, which typically require intensive manual analysis by fraud investigators to uncover.
“Our mission is to help insurers make more informed decisions on fraud faster, which we do by offering reasoning behind why a document presents a risk of fraud to guide their investigation.
“This explainability sets us apart, and our development partners are already seeing the benefits. So, we look forward to using our funding to bring the Veridox platform to the general market.”
Sandler, named Tech Nation’s Rising Star for the North, has reunited with his former Tabb co-founder Joey Clover, now CTO of Veridox.
The company employs 13 people and is already working with 15 leading insurers, including several of the UK’s largest.
The investment will support expansion in product and sales as the business prepares for general launch.
Sanchit Dhote, principal at Outward VC, added: “When facing such a monumental challenge as insurance fraud in the AI era, Veridox has the potential not just to reshape its market, but to set a new standard in fraud detection.
“Its early traction with tier one insurers and law firms shows just how urgently the industry needs tools that actually help investigators detect and stop fraud.”