The adoption of generative AI across industries that must comply with strict regulations presents a significant dilemma, often described as a “trust gap.” Many firms hesitate because they cannot verify if each AI-driven decision adheres to required governance and policy standards.
Vigilant AI, a startup based in Derby, just secured £585,000 in pre-seed funding to address this gap. Leading the investment round was Haatch, a venture capital firm specialising in B2B SaaS, with additional backing from the East Midlands Combined Authority and the British Business Bank.
The fresh capital will be allocated towards recruiting skilled engineers and go-to-market professionals, refining the platform for a wider launch, and converting pilot projects into revenue-generating operations by the end of 2025.
Closing the GenAI trust gap
Co-founders Mark Wood and Mike Anyfantakis bring deep domain expertise and passion to the challenge. Mark Wood, Co-founder and CTO
Wood told TFN, “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 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.”
The distinctiveness of Vigilant AI lies in its AI Teammates, designed explicitly for regulated teams. Unlike ServiceNow GRC and MetricStream, Vigilant AI operate within continually active compliance frameworks, crafted to meet sector-specific regulations and permanently logging every decision. The platform’s rapid onboarding and enterprise-grade security certifications set it apart from competitors who lack robust audit processes.
Mike Anyfantakis, Co-founder & CPO, Vigilant AI, said, “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. We’re excited by the feedback received from early customers and looking to further develop our product in collaboration with our partners”
What’s next?
Moving forward, the recent investment will expedite Vigilant AI’s plans to expand its team, scale its product with user-friendly features, and transition pilots into fully operational solutions by Q4 2025. There is strong demand from regulated firms ready to incorporate AI Teammates smoothly into their operations.
Fred Soneya, Partner, Haatch, said, “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.”
