FeedStock has secured £2.5m funding.
The London-based AI-driven SaaS business leverages natural language processing technologies to enable financial services companies to meet compliance requirements and commercial goals.
Run by co-founders and joint managing directors Charlie Henderson, a former corporate broker, and Lucas Wurfbain, who was previously a fund manager, operates across multiple jurisdictions with clients in the US, Europe and UK.
Praetura Ventures has invested £1.8m in FeedStock from its Praetura EIS 2019 Fund while existing investor Illuminate Financial and a selection of angel investors as well as Force Over Mass are contributing £700,000.
FeedStock co-founder Charlie Henderson said: “With our background in highly regulated businesses, we are seeing enormous appetite for our proprietary technology; not only from businesses required to comply with MiFID II, but also for enterprises that are looking to leverage AI as a core component of their business for efficiency gains and revenue generation.
“Financial services firms recognise that investing in their compliance and technology is key to winning and retaining the trust of customers and investors. These businesses also understand the importance of analysing data to power smarter decisions ahead of their competitors.
“It’s clear to us that the team at Praetura Ventures understand the opportunities and challenges in our sector, and also understand the potential of where we can take the business.
“Their entrepreneurial and proactive approach resonates with our values and they will help us to successfully deliver our growth strategy. We are looking forward to working with them closely.”
FeedStock’s leading product, Cortex, automatically scans emails and chat streams, as well as calendar events and research portals to ensure compliance with investment research regulations.
FeedStock released Synapse last year, a product which analyses a firm’s communications with clients in real-time to deliver insights for Next Best Action as well as automating CRM data entry.
The funding will enable FeedStock to accelerate the rollout of its products, expand the size of its team and extend into new markets.
The deal is Praetura Ventures’ tenth in the last six months, with a total of £12.6m invested in early-stage businesses since June. FeedStock is the third AI-focused business in Praetura Ventures’ portfolio, following investments in Peak and Futr.
As part of the deal, Mark Lyons, director at Praetura Ventures, will join the FeedStock board as a non-executive director.
Mark Lyons, director at Praetura Ventures, said: “Our support for FeedStock fits well with our strategy of investing in exciting businesses led by entrepreneurial management teams with experience in high-value sectors.
“AI is beginning to disrupt financial services in a positive way. The most forward-thinking businesses recognise that proprietary software like FeedStock’s will be at the heart of their future business models.
“We’ve been hugely impressed with the experience and vision of Charlie and Lucas and are confident that with our support, the business will deliver on its ambitious growth targets. They have developed a world-class product with significant momentum, and we are very excited about what the future holds for the business.”
Other high-profile businesses backed by Praetura Ventures include AI and machine learning business, Peak, and online delivery platform, Sorted.