Gradient Labs, a UK-based startup building AI agents for banks and fintechs, has expanded its Series A to $26 million, bringing total funding to $42.6 million. New investors Octopus Ventures and CommerzVentures led the round, with follow-on backing from Redpoint Ventures and Exceptional Capital. For the collections industry, the notable piece is what the company is automating. Gradient Labs has moved from a single AI agent to a suite of specialists, including a Lending Agent that it says handles the entire borrower lifecycle, from a missed payment through outbound collections calls to an agreed repayment plan. A Disputes Agent manages intake through chargeback, and a Know Your Business agent runs identity and document checks. The company says the agents share context and memory and hand work to one another as a customer’s journey requires.
Gradient Labs is also running voice AI in production for regulated workflows, an area it describes as among the hardest to automate because of compliance demands. The company says its agents embed domain-specific guardrails and test scenarios tied to frameworks such as the UK’s FCA Consumer Duty and the EU AI Act.
Founded in 2023 by former Monzo employees Dimitri Masin, Neal Lathia, and Danai Antoniou, Gradient Labs reports revenue grew 900% over the past year and that its agents now reach more than 32 million end users. Its customer roster includes Wise, Monzo, Zego, and Pockit in Europe, plus US names Current, Stash, and Rho.
The company is making a sharper bet than most of the market. While many institutions treat AI as a co-pilot that assists human staff, Gradient Labs argues that full autonomy produces safer and more compliant outcomes. It cites customer satisfaction scores higher than human teams across deployments, with some reaching 98%, and resolution rates of 80% to 90%. It also offers a performance guarantee, refunding customers if a scoped deployment does not deliver.
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