October 2024: Five big AI news stories of the month

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to dominate headlines and coverage in the fintech space. Here we review the top five AI stories from October, including Citi, Interface.ai, Google Cloud, Societe Generale, and more.

Logik.io secures $25 million Series B funding for AI-driven CPQ platform

Logik.io, a US-based fintech company that specializes in configure, price, and quote (CPQ) solutions, has secured $25 million in Series B funding.

Building on last year’s $16 million Series A funding, CEO Christopher Shutts said Logik.io will use the latest funding to pursue and support “new projects.”

Founded in 2019, the fintech’s CPQ solution combines a product configuration and recommendation engine with a centralized deal management hub, powered by the Cosmo AI smart assistant launched last year.

FCA launches AI Lab to promote safe use of AI in UK financial sector

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched its new AI Lab, which aims to promote “the safe and responsible use of AI in UK financial markets, driving growth, competitiveness and innovation in the sector”.

Developed in partnership with the Digital Regulatory Cooperation Forum (DRCF), the lab’s four main components will “help firms overcome the challenges they face when building and implementing AI solutions”, said Chief Data, Information and Intelligence Officer Jessica Rusu.

AI Sprint will discuss the safe adoption of AI in financial services from 2025 onwards, including AI Input Zone for feedback, AI Spotlight for real-world applications, and Supercharged Sandbox for TechSprints.

Socure signs $136m deal to acquire AI risk decisioning platform Effectiv

US digital identity verification and fraud prevention platform Socure is to acquire San Francisco-based startup Effectiv, which specialises in risk decisioning, for $136m.

The deal, which will combine Effectiv’s AI orchestration and decisioning platform with Socure’s digital identity technology, is expected to close in November.

SocGen said it will use the acquisition to launch a new suite of transaction-level solutions, with particular support for real-time payment fraud and anti-money laundering (AML) transaction monitoring capabilities.

Interface.ai becomes ‘most valuable AI company in banking’ with $30M round led by Avataar

Claiming to now be the “most valuable AI company in banking,” Interface.ai has raised $30 million in a Series A round led by Avataar Venture Partners.

Bootstrapped since its founding in 2019, Interface.ai said it will use the funds to “expand the team, enhance product offerings, strengthen customer success and services, and accelerate go-to-market initiatives.”

These products currently include pre-trained agent AI solutions for community banks and credit unions, and Sphere, a multimodal AI agent that enables clients to leverage the technology in their customer relationships.

Citi signs multi-year cloud and AI technology modernization deal with Google Cloud

Citibank has signed a multi-year partnership agreement with Google Cloud to modernize its technology infrastructure with new cloud and AI technologies.

The bank will adopt its partner’s machine learning (ML) solution, Vertex AI, to “deliver generative AI capabilities across the company” using pre-installed model frameworks such as TensorFlow and PyTorch.

The machine learning platform deployed by Citibank is expected to power its generative AI initiatives in development toolkits, document processing, and digital capabilities, thereby enhancing the capabilities of its customer service teams.

At the same time, Citi is also preparing to migrate multiple workloads and applications, including digital products and internal workflows, to Google Cloud, with a focus on “enhancing the experience of employees and customers on cloud-based applications.”