Cleo, an AI-enabled financial assistant, has raised $700,000 from a series of Angel investors.
Investors include serial entrepreneur and Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström, and Alex Chesterman, founder and CEO of Zoopla and LoveFilm. The round also drew support from Errol Damelin, Jason Goodman, Siraj Khaliq, Simon Franks and Wendy and Joe White.
Using artificial intelligence, Cleo integrates with Facebook Messenger, Amazon Alexa and Google Home to enable users to keep up-to-date with their finances.
Barney Hussey-Yeo, co-founder and CEO of Cleo, commented: “We’re trying to reduce the complexity and increase the transparency of financial services for our generation. As millennials ourselves, we’re acutely aware of our peers’ increased expectations of technology.
“The days of logging into multiple bank accounts and dealing with poorly designed, passive interfaces is over.”
An Entrepreneur First alumnus, Cleo was born when Barney Hussey-Yeo partnered with co-founder and CTO Aleksandra Wozniak at the London-based startup accelerator.
The firm, which launched its public beta in August last year, says it will use the funds to expand into international markets in 2017.
“Taking the ownership and control away from banks will be amazing for the consumer but will also create oversized returns. This is Europe’s chance to build a Google or Facebook sized company,” Hussey-Yeo concluded.
For all the latest UK tech funding announcements, visit the Tech City News Investment Tracker.