London-based RegTech startup Zango has raised $4.8 million in seed funding to tackle one of the most complex, costly, and manual functions in financial services: regulatory compliance.
Led by Nexus Venture Partners, a $2.6 billion VC firm known for backing global enterprise software winners, the round included South Park Commons, Notion Capital, No Label Ventures, and fintech veterans like Richard Davies (CEO, Allica Bank) and Alan Morgan (former head of McKinsey’s EMEA financial services practice).
The fresh funding will help Zango scale its AI-native governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) platform, grow its teams in London and Bengaluru, and expand from banking into insurance and asset management. The firm’s mission is to make compliance dynamic, real-time, and fully integrated into the operating stack — not an afterthought buried in spreadsheets or costly consulting retainers.
The Burden of Regulatory Complexity
In today’s world, financial regulations span over 300,000 pages globally, according to Thomson Reuters. For regulated entities, staying compliant is a Sisyphean task, made harder by fragmented jurisdictions and constantly evolving laws.
A 2023 report by Deloitte estimates that banks spend up to 15% of their operating budgets on compliance, driven largely by headcount, manual review cycles, and legacy tools. Traditional approaches — static checklists, human consultants, and siloed systems — struggle to keep up with the pace of innovation in financial services.
Zango addresses this pain point by training regulation-specific Large Language Models (LLMs) that transform static regulation into dynamic instructions. Its “AI agents” continuously monitor regulatory updates, surface actionable requirements in real time, and even integrate into workflows to reduce compliance review times from days to hours.
From Monzo to Novobanco: Trusted by Banks and Neobanks Alike
Already adopted by Novobanco, Portugal’s fourth-largest bank, and gaining traction with high-growth fintechs like Monzo and Juni, Zango offers both breadth and depth. Its flagship capability — “Google-style” regulatory queries — allows product and compliance teams to ask, “I want to launch a lending product in Spain. What do I need to do?” and get immediate, actionable guidance.
In contrast to generic AI tools or standalone GRC platforms, Zango delivers an outcome-based approach. “We don’t sell a platform — we sell a solution,” said Zango Co-founder, Ritesh Singhania. “Our AI agents are paired with humans-in-the-loop to ensure 100% accuracy. Peace of mind doesn’t come from a tool; it comes from a result.”
Zango has already proven its effectiveness: one bank reduced a regulator-related workflow from 48 hours to just 4 using the platform. According to Sabina Ausfelt, Head of Compliance at neo bank Juni, “Zango is a game-changer for horizon scanning.”
A Founding Team with Deep RegTech Credentials
Zango is the brainchild of Ritesh Singhania and Shashank Agarwal, both second-time founders in the regulatory and AI tech space.
Singhania previously founded ClearGlass, a pension compliance platform, and was Head of Technology at Simplitium, later acquired by NASDAQ.
Agarwal co-founded Third Watch, an AI fraud detection startup acquired by Razorpay, and later led trust and compliance engineering at PhonePe, a major fintech preparing for India’s largest IPO.
Their pedigree and complementary skill sets — deeptech meets regulatory pragmatism — have earned them strong endorsements from investors and clients alike.
“Zango’s first-principles approach uniquely marries AI with human compliance expertise,” said Anand Datta, Partner at Nexus Venture Partners. “Their AI-led solution is already augmenting the compliance team and increasing their efficiency at global financial institutions.”
A Booming Market for RegTech AI
According to a 2024 report by Allied Market Research, the global RegTech market is projected to reach $83.8 billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 21.6%. As financial services digitize, the demand for real-time, embedded compliance solutions has exploded.
Zango stands out by going beyond static dashboards or passive monitoring tools. By embedding AI into day-to-day operations, it enables businesses to stay audit-ready, reduce risk exposure, and move faster — all without adding to overheads.
What are Zango Future Plans?
With new capital, Zango plans to build additional modules for a full-stack AI-native GRC suite, expand across financial services verticals, and scale enterprise deployments.
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