Diligent AI raises €2.1M to deploy AI agents for KYC/AML

Diligent AI, a Berlin/London-linked startup that builds autonomous AI analysts for financial crime compliance, has closed a €2.1 million Seed round to accelerate product development and expand across the UK and Europe.

Founded in 2023 by Edoardo Maschio (ex-BCG and Rocket Internet investor) and Ahmed Gaber (former CTO at Billie), Diligent AI develops so-called autonomous AI analysts that read, reason and investigate routine KYC and AML tasks.

The round was led by Speedinvest with participation from FinTech-focused Shapers and continued support from Y Combinator. Business angels include founders and CEOs from N26, Allica Bank, IDnow, Billie and Cybersource, underscoring growing investor interest in automation solutions for compliance operations.

The company says its agents can clear false positives, search corporate registries and public records, cross‑reference adverse media and resolve sanctions and payment‑screening alerts — tasks that today consume the bulk of compliance teams’ time.

"We are building this for the analysts. When you strip away repetitive tasks — like clearing false positive alerts, searching corporate registries and public records, cross-referencing adverse media — you free up the human mind to focus on judgment and strategy," Edoardo Maschio told. "It’s decision‑making instead of data processing."

Diligent’s agents are already deployed at financial institutions across Europe, the Middle East, the US and Japan, with named customers including Flywire, Allica Bank, Alma, Teya and Tamara. According to the startup, clients use the agents to resolve sanctions, identify politically exposed persons (PEPs), analyse adverse media, perform merchant risk reviews and streamline customer onboarding, yielding measurable savings and more consistent decisions.

The founders argue that standardising investigations with AI reduces fatigue and ensures round‑the‑clock, repeatable reviews — a clear appeal for banks and fintechs under mounting regulatory scrutiny.

Julien Lézé, FinTech investor at Speedinvest, framed the thesis bluntly: "Banks and fintechs already face high costs from large compliance teams and increasing regulatory scrutiny. As AI drives an exponential rise in the volume and sophistication of fraud, compliance operations cannot scale proportionally. The only viable path forward for financial institutions is to fight fire with fire — AI with AI,"

The new financing follows a broader wave of European investment into startups tackling AML screening, fraud detection and workflow automation. Recent rounds range from early seed financings to larger Series A/B raises — signalling both demand and capital availability for tools that lower the human burden of compliance.

Diligent says it will use the fresh capital to expand its suite of AI agents for additional task archetypes, deepen its existing product capabilities and grow its go‑to‑market team to support global customers. The company is hiring across engineering and commercial functions — from backend and machine learning engineers to go‑to‑market associates.

With its €2.1 million seed, Diligent AI looks set to push deeper into this space, pitching AI agents as a way to return highly skilled analysts to the strategic work regulators and customers expect.