Coventry tech firm bags £2.6m funding boost
Coventry-based FinTech company Inicio AI has raised £2.6m in seed funding to improve how organisations assess customer affordability, particularly for those in financial difficulty.
The new funding will help Inicio AI grow its team and expand its West Midlands headquarters.
It will also support the rollout of the UK’s first FCA-regulated consumer affordability passport service, which allows users to share their affordability data securely.
The funding round follows Inicio AI’s recent win at the OneToWin pitch competition during Birmingham Tech Week.
Backers include £500,000 from the West Midlands Co-Investment Fund (managed by Midven), £500,000 from Rigby Group PLC, £300,000 from Haatch Ventures, and additional investment from Morgan Stanley, Angel Academe, Mint Ventures, and several angel investors.
Rachel Curtis, CEO of Inicio AI, said: “This investment, coupled with our success in the OneToWin competition, marks a significant milestone in our mission to revolutionise affordability
assessments. With this funding, we can expand our team, enhance our technology, and bring our innovative solutions to a wider market. It’s hugely rewarding to be able to improve the financial well-being of individuals whilst also increasing efficiency for creditors.”
The company’s key innovation is “Budgie,” a conversational AI tool that simplifies and speeds up the traditional affordability assessment process.
Budgie guides users through the process online, boosting completion rates and helping organisations better understand individual financial situations.
The result: payment amounts increase by up to 60% and the time needed to complete assessments drops by 50%.
Budgie also helps users identify unclaimed financial support and benefits—tapping into an estimated £22.7bn of unclaimed aid annually.
To date, the platform has uncovered millions of pounds in potential missed income for people in debt.
Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands and WMCA chair said: “Growing our economy is a top priority for me, but local companies need investment if they are to innovate and expand. That’s why our Co-Investment Fund was set up – to invest in innovation so that forward-looking businesses can grow and prosper, creating valuable jobs for local people. Inicio is a great example of a West Midlands business that, with the right support, has been able to get established and launch an innovative product that can make a real difference in people’s lives. By investing in homegrown talent like this, we can drive further innovation and our industries of the future.”
