London-based RegTech startup ALT/AVE secures £535K investment in pre-seed funding and Innovate UK grant to accelerate growth

ALT/AVE is a London, England-based RegTech startup that uses blockchain (distributed ledger) technology to combat the masses of paper waste in banking. The startup is revolutionizing the way financial institutions distribute regulated documents to their customers using blockchain (distributed ledger) technology.

Today, ALT/AVE announced it has raised a combined total of £535,000 investment in pre-seed funding. The investment comes via an Innovate UK grant, in addition to an injection of pre-seed funding, backed by a group of notable investors combining decades of experience at the top of global finance.

ALT/AVE said it will use the new capital infusion to further develop ALT/AVE’s distributed ledger solution, docStribute, and to drive innovation and development of new products. The investment will also enable ALT/AVE to expand the core uses of docStribute beyond financial services and explore new territories.

The Innovate UK awarded ALT/AVE £148,000 (70% of which is a grant), in the form of a Smart Grant – which, as well as being welcome financial support, is an invaluable seal of approval from the UK’s innovation agency and will be used to further product development and expand the company’s offering.

Backers for the £387,000 portion of the pre-seed capital, include:

● Phil Shelley, recently appointed ALT/AVE Chairman, formerly of UBS, Goldman Sachs and Barclays, as well as founder of Arlington Capital Markets.
● Jens-Peter Stein, formerly of Stone Milliner Asset Management and Morgan Stanley.
● Philipp Eberle, formerly VP at Barclays Investment Bank, now at Appital and PKE Capital;
● Brian Guckian, formerly Head of Equities at SEB and now Appital, Astrum Partners (Waporta);
● Jon Gausen, investor and formerly of Deutsche Bank;
● Preben Ramm, ex-director at UBS and ex-Portfolio Manager at Millennium Capital Management, and is now a Portfolio Manager with Graham Capital Management;
● Peter Landin, formerly of SEB, now a banker and investor in Singapore.

The pool of investors and their backing recognizes the quality and effectiveness of ALT/AVE’s core product, docStribute, which utilises distributed ledger technology to offer banks and other regulated institutions a secure and sustainable digital solution for distributing highly regulated documents to their customers. When implemented, it will result in a 95% reduction in paper usage, a 25g decrease in CO2e per document compared to postal delivery, and cut costs by as much as 70%.

ALT/AVE’s docStribute uses the Hedera Hashgraph network to allow banks and other regulated institutions to communicate information to customers that fall under FCA regulation. The cost of non-compliance is high, yet ALT/AVE’s revolutionary application of distributed ledger technology meets all regulatory frameworks and keeps institutions in line with governance protocol, but also manages to significantly reduce costs, waste, and emissions for its users.

Chris Ansara, founder and CEO at ALT/AVE said: “At ALT/AVE, we have all worked in financial services and we saw first-hand how much paper is wasted in banking. How banks communicate with customers is closely regulated – for good reason – however, institutions are so fearful of non-compliance that modern technology is wildly underutilized. Ultimately, this means the sector continues to waste paper and has a negative impact on our planet.

“This funding will aid further development of the existing product and enable us to continue our push into new territories, extending the deployment of the technology, and research in what direction we may take docStribute next. To receive funding from Innovate UK is a welcome and appreciated nod from the UK’s innovation agency that RegTech, and ALT/AVE specifically, is well-positioned to tackle head-on the challenges faced by the financial sector.”

Founded in 2019, ALT/AVE is a start-up pushing the boundaries of regulatory technology. The startup combines next-generation distributed ledger technology and deep expertise in regulatory compliance to help financial institutions streamline the digital distribution of regulated documents in a way that reduces the industry’s reliance on paper, streamlines digital processes, and mitigates the risk of non-compliance. ALT/AVE serves as a way that is a more sustainable, digitally safer, and cost-effective solution for financial services companies to better communicate with their customers.