Adclear raises GBP £2.1 million to boost AI-powered compliance
Adclear, a financial promotions compliance platform, has raised GBP £2.1 million in a new seed funding round, attracting investment from venture capital firms and fintech sector leaders. The company's artificial intelligence technology is already used by several major UK financial institutions to streamline and automate compliance checks across all forms of marketing content.
Backing and investors
The latest funding round was led by Outward VC, with participation from AFG Partners and Tenity. High-profile angels, including Clearscore founder Dan Cobley and Coinbase UK Managing Director Keith Grose-who invested via the a16z scout fund and angel community Ventures Together-joined existing backers Haatch and Force Over Mass Capital. The company reports its annual recurring revenue has increased tenfold since January 2025, shortly after its launch last year.
Platform adoption
Adclear says its platform is used by established finance brands including the UK's largest neobank, Lloyds Banking Group, PensionBee, Plum, Yonder, InvestEngine, ActivTrades, and Trade Nation. The technology is designed to help these institutions ensure their customer communications and marketing content comply with relevant regulations, such as those set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
Compliance automation
The service allows marketing and compliance teams to process various types of content-ranging from social media images and videos to emails and online ads-through Adclear's artificial intelligence engine. The system then provides detailed, rapid feedback on any modifications needed to achieve compliance. This approach, the company says, reduces the time required for compliance reviews by an average of 88%.
Major UK finance brands have reported notable operational efficiencies since moving their compliance processes onto Adclear's platform. For example, Plum's team reported an 18-fold increase in marketing material output and a reduction in average approval times from ten days to same-day. Trade Nation's marketing output more than doubled, while allowing its marketing teams to self-approve with compliance teams conducting spot checks. ActivTrades reduced its daily compliance review time from nine hours to one. PensionBee analysed over 1,000 promotions within two months of integration.
Product roadmap
Adclear plans to use the new capital to expand its eight-person team and further develop its international presence, especially outside of the UK. In addition to supporting customers with UK compliance requirements, the company's platform has recently expanded to cover regulatory regimes across the European Union and the United States, with Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) support in the pipeline.
The company's co-founders say they are working closely with customers to build out the platform's capabilities, aiming to address the full life cycle of the financial promotions approval process, including post-publication monitoring of partner and affiliate activity.
Industry perspectives
"In the world of AI-powered marketing, teams are able to create, personalise and disseminate more content, more quickly than ever before. But if brands in the finance space want to 10x their marketing, they need powerful tools to ensure it doesn't become a regulatory nightmare. Adclear's AI enables compliance to move at the same speed as creation; unlocking a new frontier for communications innovation whilst removing a major burden from marketing and compliance teams alike," said Doni Hoti, CEO and co-founder, Adclear.
"The speed of our growth over the last year is testament to market demand for an effective, dynamic FinProm platform that can keep pace and deliver peace of mind. To be trusted by some of the UK's leading finance and investment brands, as well as backed by such an esteemed group of investors, is a true testament to the quality of what we're building and our belief in its power to transform the future of compliance in finance and other regulated industries. We have huge ambitions for this business and are fired up to keep building," said Jordan.
"We believe that a small number of AI-native companies will define how compliance is managed across all regulated industries, enabling a level of speed, consistency and efficiency previously unimaginable. Adclear is one of the most compelling examples of this taking place within financial services. The founders have combined product obsession with a deep understanding of its client's pain points to deliver a solution that's intuitive, accurate, and transformative in its impact. We're thrilled to partner with Doni, Joe and Cam as they build a category-defining AI-platform that will finally close the gap between growth and compliance," said Kazeroonian.
