The round was led by PXN Ventures with continued support from existing investors Puma Growth Partners, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide and Scottish Enterprise.

The capital will accelerate development of Aveni’s Unified Assurance Platform and the launch of two new products, Agent Assure and Agent Approve, designed to assess the conduct risk of AI agents interacting with consumers.

Aveni has over seven years of live deployments across UK banks, wealth managers and advisers. Its existing products, Aveni Assist for adviser productivity and Aveni Detect for compliance monitoring, are built on FinLLM, the firm’s proprietary suite of small language models trained on UK financial services data.

The investment targets what the company identifies as a critical gap in the market. While agentic AI adoption is accelerating, only 2% of firms report having adequate AI guardrails in place. Regulators have made clear that consumer outcomes must be assessed consistently regardless of whether an interaction involves a human or a machine.

Agent Assure extends the Aveni Detect proposition by allowing firms to monitor the conduct risk of AI agents alongside human interactions in a single view. Combined with Aveni Assist, Aveni Detect and Agent Approve, it forms the Unified Assurance Platform, which the company describes as the industry’s first comprehensive framework for assuring both human and agent interactions at scale.

Aveni participates in the FCA’s Supercharged Sandbox programme and has set up an Agent Assurance Expert Council to help shape responsible AI governance, working directly with regulators and industry bodies.

Joseph Twigg, CEO of Aveni, said: “The continued confidence shown by our existing investors is a powerful endorsement of the direction we’re taking.

“We have spent seven years building the models, the experience and the regulatory relationships that make us uniquely qualified to solve the hardest problem in AI adoption right now: how do you assure the conduct of an AI agent interacting with a real consumer?

“Agent Assure is our answer — and this investment accelerates our ability to deliver our full platform at scale.”

Alastair Moore, at PXN Ventures, said: “Aveni is fast becoming financial advisers’ go-to tool for helping them leverage AI in a safe and appropriate way. The team now has seven years of live deployments and proprietary models built within the UK financial services sector.

“Their infrastructure is answering one of the biggest questions in AI adoption: how to manage real client interactions and build trust, so advisers can focus on what they do best.

“We’re proud to support Aveni through multiple PXN funds, including the Praetura Growth VCT, as they continue their growth journey and demonstrate the world-class fintech capabilities of the North of the UK.”

Ben Leslie, investment director, Puma Growth Partners, added: “The impact Aveni is making in deploying AI into UK financial services is already significant, and we continue to see a substantial growth opportunity ahead.

“With agentic AI adoption accelerating and regulators rightly focused on consistent consumer outcomes, robust assurance for AI agents is rapidly becoming a core requirement for the sector. As a standout example of Scotland’s growing strength as a technology hub, Aveni is well placed to lead this next phase. We are delighted to invest again from our Scotland office to support Joseph, Jamie, Professor Lexi Birch and the wider team as they scale the Unified Assurance Platform and launch Agent Assure.”

Kirsty Rutter, fintech investment director at Lloyds Banking Group, said: “Agentic AI represents a significant opportunity for financial services to enhance customer experience through more personalised interactions.

“Aveni is helping firms adopt this technology in a safe and responsible way. We’re pleased to continue supporting Aveni’s ongoing development through investment and partnership.”