Coventry-based FinTech Inicio AI secures £2.6M to Revolutionise Affordability Assessments
Inicio AI, a Coventry-based FinTech company, has secured £2.6M in seed funding to transform how organisations assess affordability for customers, including for those in financial difficulty. This investment follows their recent victory in the OneToWin pitch competition at Birmingham Tech Week.
The funding round includes a £500,000 investment from the West Midlands Co-Investment Fund (WMCO), managed by Midven, part of Future Planet Capital, alongside £500,000 from Rigby Group PLC, £300,000 from Haatch Ventures, and further investment from Morgan Stanley, Angel Academe, Mint Ventures and individual angel investors.
The Innovation Behind “Budgie”
Inicio AI impressed judges with their innovative online affordability solution that streamlines the traditional assessment process. Their virtual agent, “Budgie,” uses conversational AI to guide customers through the assessment, making it more user-friendly and improving completion rates. This enables organisations to gain a more accurate understanding of their customers’ financial situations, all while costing lenders a fraction of the amount of a traditional assessment.
Organisations are seeing significant operational results:
- A 60% increase in payment amounts.
- A 50% reduction in agent and consumer time to complete the process.
- Identification of millions of pounds in missed potential income for people in debt.
Budgie also delivers value added elements such as seamlessly checking if consumers are missing out on benefits or financial support. Recent studies show that the total amount of unclaimed benefits is £22.7 billion per year as many people are unaware of the help available.
Strategic Regional Impact and Expansion
The WMCO, launched by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and the West Midlands Pension Fund, aims to support high-growth SMEs that contribute to the regional economy. Rachel Curtis, CEO of Inicio AI, stated, “With this funding, we can expand our team, enhance our technology, and bring our innovative solutions to a wider market.”
This investment will support the company’s expansion in several key areas, including:
- Launching the UK’s first and only FCA regulated specialist consumer affordability passporting service.
- Expanding their headquarters in the West Midlands with key personnel covering technology and data areas.
The Global FinTech Landscape
The fintech startup scene globally has exploded in the last 10 years, and there are now 60 fintech unicorns globally. To put the market scale in perspective, the following table shows the performance of top fintech applications according to Sensor Tower data:
| App Name | Market Region | 2018 Downloads (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Google Pay (formerly Tez) | Worldwide | 78 million |
| PhonePe | Worldwide | 49 million |
| Square's Cash App | United States | 23 million |
| Venmo | United States | 16 million |
By investing in homegrown talent like Inicio AI, the region aims to drive further innovation and support the industries of the future. Rupert Lyle, Investment Director at Midven, noted that their innovative approach has the potential to significantly improve lending and debt resolution processes for both lenders and customers.
