Nvidia is making a $1bn equity investment in Finnish telecoms infrastructure firm Nokia, as the two firms undertake a strategic partnership centred on working together on leveraging AI into telecoms networks and data centre development.

The deal will see the US chip giant acquire more than 166 million new Nokia shares, at $6.01 each, giving Nvidia a 2.90 per cent stake in Nokia.

Nvidia's investment marks the latest in a recent spree of equity stake deals undertaken by the US chip giant, as it looks to cement its position at the forefront of the AI race.

Nokia says it will use the funds to speed up Nokia’s 5G & 6G software to run on Nvidia’s architecture as well as increase its presence in the AI & cloud market, according to a statement.

Nokia added: “Nokia and Nvidia have agreed to collaborate on AI networking solutions and explore opportunities to incorporate Nokia’s data centre switching and optical technologies in Nvidia's future AI infrastructure architecture.”

Nokia, well known for its early mobile phone, has pivoted into a telecoms infrastructure company and is now mainly known as a supplier of 5G cellular equipment to telecom providers.

Nvidia has previously announced deals to invest $100bn in OpenAI and made a $5bn investment in Intel.

Nokia's shares were up 15 per cent following the announcement.

iPNOTE, a Spanish-American LegalTech platform that streamlines intellectual property (IP) management, has raised €857k in a Seed funding round to accelerate the development of its AI agent and deepen its presence across Europe and the UK, alongside expansion into the US.

The round was led by AltaIR Capital, with participation from Hi2 Venture Fund and several angel investors, including partners at Erdem Kaya Patent, a Turkish patent law firm, and Founders of high-tech startups like Super, Lokalise, Chainstack and others.

“Companies face enormous challenges when protecting their ideas globally. At iPNOTE, our mission is to remove that complexity by providing a single AI-powered interaction point that automates the annoying ping-pong with IP attorneys,” said Alex Levkin, Founder and CEO of iPNOTE. “This funding will help us bring our enterprise solution to life and prove that IP management can finally be as seamless as any modern SaaS experience.”

This Seed round for iPNOTE fits within a broader upswing in European LegalTech and legal-AI investment during 2025.

Early-stage funding has been active, with Pandektes in Denmark securing €2.9 million to automate legal research and knowledge management, and Augmetec in the UK raising over €2.4 million for an AI system that streamlines regulatory investigations.

Larger rounds have also been observed: Lexroom from Italy closed €16.2 million to expand its generative-AI platform for legal teams, including into Spain, while Sweden’s Legora raised €70.6 million for its collaborative AI suite for law firms. The Netherlands-based Saga also secured over €1.5 million to expand its lawyer-centric AI platform across Europe and Latin America.

Within this environment, iPNOTE stands out as one of the few Spain-linked LegalTech companies focusing specifically on intellectual-property management. Its AI-driven approach to automating global IP filings aligns with a sector-wide trend of embedding AI into legal and compliance workflows, positioning the startup well for subsequent expansion across Europe, the UK, and the US.

“iPNOTE shows how AI can give companies comprehensive global IP coverage without the burden of hiring and coordinating hundreds of lawyers across jurisdictions. By automating the creation, protection, and maintenance of IP rights, iPNOTE saves businesses significant time and resources while making global protection finally accessible,” said Igor Ryabenkiy, Founder and Managing Partner at AltaIR Capital.

The company was founded in 2022 by Alex Levkin, a certified patent attorney with more than 13 years of experience in IP. Before launching iPNOTE, Levkin built an IP law firm providing startups with cost-effective solutions for international markets. His work revealed how difficult it was to scale traditional IP practices. He envisioned iPNOTE as a way to unify fragmented IP processes and connect enterprises with trusted contractors through one platform.

In 2023, creators and companies around the world filed over 23 million intellectual property applications, including patents, trademarks, utility models, and industrial designs. Europe accounted for about 3.3 million filings, marking one of its busiest years for IP activity.

However, the company says IP protection across borders is still manual and fragmented. Companies are required by law to work with local IP providers in every country where they seek protection. This leads to fragmented processes, endless email chains, and high operational costs.

iPNOTE helps enterprises manage thousands of trademark and patent filings across dozens of jurisdictions by unifying IP management in a single platform and allowing users to automate interactions with IP service providers worldwide.

At the core of this innovation is an AI paralegal – a virtual assistant that can simultaneously manage global IP filings and handle up to 90% of routine communications with providers. The AI oversees the entire IP registration workflow: answers attorney questions, reviews deliverables, summarises documents, tracks deadlines, sends follow-ups to providers, monitors progress from filing to grant, and processes payments.

Instead of sending hundreds of emails, IP managers and paralegals interact with a single AI assistant that seamlessly coordinates with patent attorneys worldwide, reportedly turning weeks of manual work into streamlined automation.

When the AI agent encounters a complex request, it escalates the issue to a human for review to ensure accuracy and reliability at every step.

“Protecting intellectual rights and promoting innovations are not mutually exclusive. The solutions are not more government initiatives but technologies from companies like iPNOTE. Our decision to invest is not only based on iPNOTE’s automated IP management systems, but also on its global coverage. iPNOTE’s clients are not only protected in the US and Europe, but also in over 100 emerging and frontier markets,” said Jerry Wang, Founder and CEO at Hi2 Global.

The company has already created a SaaS platform and processed over 2,000 IP cases in 130+ countries, saving millions of IP budget. Half of iPNOTE’s enterprise pipeline comprises large corporations in Europe and the UK, making the region the fastest-growing market.

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Amsterdam-based micro-mobility company Dott has raised an additional $70 million, extending its Series B funding round to over $150 million. The company has previously raised over $228 million including $85 million Series B funding in spring 2021.

Since the merger of TIER and Dott in 2024, the Company has successfully integrated operations to create one of the leading micromobility players in EMEA with operations in over 400 cities and 21 countries, and delivered over €60 million in annual cost savings to become adjusted EBITDA positive.

The investment comes amid intensifying competition in Europe’s micro-mobility sector. Rivals such as Tier, Voi, and Lime continue to scale their e-bike and scooter fleets as cities shift towards low-emission transport. Many operators are also grappling with tightening regulation, city-level tender systems, and growing pressure to achieve profitability.

Henri Moissinac, Co-Founder and CEO of Dott, said:

“We reached a significant milestone for our business in 2021, launching e-bikes to extend our offer with a vehicle that is more familiar to many people and broadens the appeal of our service.

Starting 2022 with additional funding will propel our growth and allow us to offer environmentally friendly travel to more people.”

The company operates under an in-house logistics and maintenance model, in contrast to competitors who rely on third-party services.

Alistair Watson, Head of Strategy Innovation, Private Equity at abrdn, said:

“We felt that Dott is well positioned to be a leader in the category, offering a high quality product that has been recognised with significant growth in 2021, alongside a responsible business model which takes a rigorous approach to minimising its carbon footprint.”

Specially, the company has successfully issued €70 million of senior secured floating rate bonds in the Nordic market, within a total framework of €150 million (the “Nordic Bonds”), and concurrently is raising a minimum of €15 million in preferred equity as an extension of its existing Series D fundraising round (the “Series D Extension”).

The fresh capital will support the rollout of e-bikes, further product development, and expansion into new markets. Dott said the investment would help enhance user experience while maintaining a focus on safety and environmental impact.

SalesPatriot, a Polish-American startup building a next-generation procurement platform for defense and aerospace components, has raised €4.2 million in Seed funding to accelerate its mission of transforming how parts distributors and manufacturers buy and sell critical equipment.

The round was led by CRV, with participation from Pear VC, Y Combinator, SV Angel, Liquid2, Uncorrelated Ventures, and a network of strategic angels including Paul Graham, Rich Miner, Mark Pincus, Steve Blank, and Mati Staniszewski. This brings SalesPatriot’s total funding to €5.4 million to date.

“Our vision is to become the default system of record for defense procurement – and eventually, all critical supply chains,” says Nelson Ray, CEO of SalesPatriot. “Wars today are won with logistics and supply chains as much as with new platforms. We’re building the infrastructure to make sure the West is ready.”

The funding of SalesPatriot comes amid a notable rise in investor activity around procurement, supply chain, and defence-related technologies across Europe in 2025.

For instance, Mercanis secured €17.3 million in a Series A round to advance its AI-driven procurement platform, while Nvelop in Finland raised €1.2 million to develop an agentic-AI system for enterprise procurement. In the UK, Magentic attracted €4.6 million to automate supply-chain operations through autonomous agents, while Germany’s 3D Spark raised €2 million for its manufacturing and procurement SaaS platform. France’s Bonx added €7.3 million to expand its AI-ERP technology for manufacturing.

Unlike these broader enterprise-focused startups, SalesPatriot’s focus on defense and aerospace procurement distinguishes it within this trend, particularly as the only firm with operations anchored in Poland, a country less represented in this year’s procurement-tech funding announcements.

“We built SalesPatriot from day one to integrate with the messy reality of defense procurement – combining AI, structured data, unstructured communication, and legacy systems,” says Benjamin Rhodes-Kropf, CTO and Co-founder of SalesPatriot. “Our workflows don’t force users to change how they work – they remove the manual overhead. That’s why our customers are already seeing 7x faster turnaround times and winning more Pentagon business.”

Founded in 2024 by engineers Nelson Ray, Benjamin Rhodes-Kropf, and Maciej Szymczyk, SalesPatriot was born out of frustration with outdated procurement systems. Ray and Szymczyk both studied at the University of California, Berkeley, while Rhodes-Kropf conducted AI research at MIT before joining the founding team.

Ray experienced the inefficiencies firsthand while working at Aurora Defense Group. Rhodes-Kropf brought deep expertise in AI and systems engineering, while Szymczyk focused on scaling teams and tapping into European talent.

Together, they have set out to modernise defense supply chains at a time when global security depends on speed, resilience, and better logistics.

SalesPatriot structures data from government portals, ERP systems, spreadsheets, and even unstructured email communications. Its dynamic workflows automate quote processing and order management, enabling suppliers to process orders 7x faster. This is powering teams servicing Pentagon orders worth more than $200 million annually.

In just over a year since inception, SalesPatriot has secured contracts with leading defense parts distributors including Jamaica Bearings Group, AllClear Aerospace, and STATZ Corporation.

“Poland is full of world-class engineers who are eager to work on meaningful challenges,” says Maciej Szymczyk, Co-founder of SalesPatriot. “With SalesPatriot House, we’re giving them the opportunity to build mission-critical technology side by side with our U.S. team. This is just the beginning – we plan to grow our team here significantly and make Poland a key driver of our global expansion.”

The company currently employs 10 team members across engineering and business development, with plans to grow to 12-15 by the end of 2025. New hires will focus on full-stack development and scaling commercial operations.

Alongside its U.S. operations, SalesPatriot has opened the SalesPatriot House in Warsaw to tap into Poland’s engineering talent and build a launchpad for international growth.

“The ability to build, source, and produce, efficiently and domestically, is what sustains American competitiveness,” says Caitlin Bolnick Rellas, General Partner at CRV. “SalesPatriot understands that, and they’re building the modern procurement engine for the next generation of defense manufacturers. We couldn’t be prouder to be in business with this team.”

At SalesPatriot House, engineers live and work alongside the team, focused on two things: shipping world-class code and making customers happy. The company supports hires with housing and food, and offers a relocation path to join the team in San Francisco as SalesPatriot expands globally.

Over the next 12-18 months, SalesPatriot plans to dominate the defense sector, expand into commercial aviation, and begin entering European and Asian procurement markets. Long-term, the company aims to become the trusted infrastructure layer for all mission-critical supply chains – from aerospace to energy.

“SalesPatriot is what great talent looks like in action: deep problem insight, a relentless shipping culture, and an obsession with customer workflows,” says Bartek Pucek, investor in SalesPatriot. “They turned a messy, mission-critical problem into software that accelerates real defense businesses. Wars are won with logistics; logistics today are won with software.”

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SalesPatriot, a Polish-American startup building a procurement platform for defence and aerospace components, has raised $5 million in seed funding. The round was led by CRV, with participation from Pear VC, Y Combinator, SV Angel, Liquid2, Uncorrelated Ventures, and strategic angels including Paul Graham, Rich Miner, Mark Pincus, Steve Blank, and Mati Staniszewski. This brings total funding to $6.3 million.

Founded in 2024 by engineers Nelson Ray, Benjamin Rhodes-Kropf, and Maciej Szymczyk, SalesPatriot addresses limitations in legacy procurement systems by ingesting and structuring data from government portals, ERPs, spreadsheets, and unstructured email. Its dynamic workflows automate quote processing and order management, enabling suppliers to process orders up to 7 times faster. The platform supports teams handling over $200 million in annual Pentagon orders.

Nelson Ray (CEO) said the company aims to establish itself as the primary system of record for defence procurement and, over time, for other mission-critical supply chains as well.

Wars today are won with logistics and supply chains as much as with new platforms. We’re building the infrastructure to make sure the West is ready.

Within a year of founding, SalesPatriot signed contracts with distributors including Jamaica Bearings Group, AllClear Aerospace, and STATZ Corporation. For distributors and manufacturers, the system provides faster access to contracts, fewer manual errors, and higher throughput without additional headcount; for the DoD and its suppliers, it improves speed, accuracy, and supply-chain resilience.

According to Benjamin Rhodes-Kropf (CTO), the company was designed from the outset to work within the complexities of defence procurement by integrating AI, structured and unstructured data, and legacy systems.

Our workflows don’t force users to change how they work – they remove the manual overhead. That’s why our customers are already seeing 7x faster turnaround times and winning more Pentagon business.

Looking ahead, SalesPatriot plans to deepen its presence in defence, expand into commercial aviation, and enter procurement markets in Europe and Asia, supporting a longer-term goal of becoming a trusted infrastructure layer for mission-critical supply chains and transforming how parts distributors and manufacturers buy and sell critical equipment.

Grasp, the AI startup out Sweden automating investment banking and management consulting work using multi-agent systems, today announces it has raised €6 million in Series A funding.

The round was led by Octopus Ventures, with participation from existing investor Yanno Capital. Grasp is also announcing the opening of its first international office in London. This brings total funding to €7.7 million.

“At McKinsey, we spent over 90% of our time on manual work – reading reports, building excel models, creating presentations,” said Richard Karlsson, CEO and co-founder of Grasp. “Together with Simon, who brought critical AI expertise from Ericsson, we realised AI had the potential to completely transform this $1.4 trillion market of human-intensive finance work. Five years later, we’re proving this thesis.”

Several comparable rounds reflect investor confidence in platforms using AI to streamline complex, knowledge-intensive work.

In Denmark, Light secured €25 million to scale its AI-native finance system that replaces legacy enterprise software. In France, Finary raised €25 million to expand its AI-powered wealth-management tools across Europe. Meanwhile, London-based Saturn collected €12.9 million to automate compliance and administrative tasks in financial advisory work.

Notably, Sweden’s own EvoluteIQ secured €44 million to advance its agentic-AI enterprise platform for sectors including banking and financial services.

Together, these rounds illustrate sustained investor appetite for enterprise-AI startups targeting high-value business processes. Grasp’s funding sits within this broader context – a growing European ecosystem applying multi-agent and automation technologies to reshape finance and consulting workflows, with Sweden emerging as a notable hub for such innovation.

“While AI initially boomed in text-centric fields like law, recent advances have finally enabled AI agents to tackle complex, multimodal tasks prevalent in finance. Now, with Octopus Ventures joining our journey, we’re excited to continue expanding our rapidly growing customer base,” added Karlsson.

Founded in 2020 by two former McKinsey consultants and an Ericsson AI engineer, Grasp is automating complex finance work through multi-agent AI systems. The company serves investment banks, management consultants, private equity firms, and corporate strategy teams across 30 countries. The company currently employs 25 people in Stockholm and London.

Grasp was founded by former McKinsey consultants Richard Karlsson and Johan Devér, together with former Ericsson AI engineer Simon Hällqvist. Combining their industry insights and technical expertise, Richard, Johan, and Simon developed a multi-agent AI system capable of executing complex tasks exactly as humans would – delivering ready-to-present spreadsheets and powerpoint presentations tailored for investment banks, management consultants, and private equity firms.

Posting 3.5x ARR growth over the past 12 months, Grasp serves almost 200 customers , including most of the Big Four consulting firms. The latest funding will be deployed to fuel Grasp’s expansion plans and grow its product and sales teams.

The platform connects highly domain-specific AI systems to trusted tools and datasets, helping teams produce higher-quality output by uncovering more relevant companies, surfacing deeper insights, and reducing time spent on manual, repetitive tasks.

“Grasp is at the forefront of vertical AI in finance, having built a multi-agent system that delivers the kind of high-quality output finance professionals rely on,” said Rich Bolton, Principal at Octopus Ventures. “Their strong traction – more than tripling annually and winning major global customers – demonstrates both the power of their technology and the urgency of the need. We’re thrilled to support a team with such deep domain expertise and a clear vision for transforming how financial work gets done.”

EU-Startups previously covered Grasp in May 2024, when we reported on the company’s €1.7 million Seed round to expand its AI assistant for the finance industry – highlighting its early traction in automating analytical and reporting workflows.

“We continue to have a strong conviction in the mission of Grasp, to automate 90% of the knowledge work done by financial analysts, and we are thrilled to continue to back the strong founder team”, says Anna Storåkers, Partner at Yanno Capital.

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Sesame, a Spanish HRTech startup focused on AI-powered talent management solutions, has secured up to €50 million in growth funding through a unique financial instrument developed in partnership with BBVA Spark.

Designed specifically for SaaS companies looking to scale internationally without giving up equity, this move marks a shift in how European tech startups can fund expansion while maintaining full control.

“This instrument is a real revolution for the European technology ecosystem,” says Albert Soriano, CEO of Sesame. “It will allow us to scale internationally while continuing to focus on innovation in artificial intelligence applied to talent management.” (Translated)

In the European HRTech and SaaS segment – particularly in AI-powered talent and workforce management – 2025 has brought steady funding momentum across multiple markets.

In the UK, Zelt raised €5.7 million to scale its all-in-one human capital management platform. In Italy, Skillvue secured €5.5 million to promote a skills-based approach to recruitment and talent management. From Belgium, Shyfter raised €1.5 million to expand its workforce management SaaS, while in France, Maki attracted €26 million to develop conversational AI agents for HR workflows.

Within Spain, Orbio raised €6.4 million for its AI-native human capital management system – illustrating continued national strength in HRTech innovation. Germany’s Ordio added €12 million for payroll automation, and Czechia’s Talentiqa secured €1 million for its AI-powered hiring assistant.

Against this backdrop, Sesame’s announcement of up to €50 million in growth funding stands out both in scale and in financial model. While most 2025 HRTech rounds have been equity-based and in the low-to-mid-million-euro range, Sesame’s financing reflects a more mature phase of expansion, combining strong revenue traction with an alternative funding pathway that maintains founder ownership.

Miguel Ángel Alcalá, Head of BBVA Spark in Europe, highlights: “Our value proposition is based on supporting high-growth companies that are transforming the economy through technology. We share a vision of sustainable growth with Sesame, connected to data and focused on people.

Founded in Valencia in 2015, Sesame has grown into one of Spain’s most prominent HRTech players. The startup uses AI to automate administrative processes, improve internal workflows, and deliver an enhanced experience for people teams and employees alike. Its platform is currently used by more than 15,000 companies, generating over €20 million in annual recurring revenue.

The team behind Sesame is over 350-strong and operates from its headquarters in the innovation-focused La Marina district of Valencia. The startup has positioned itself as a frontrunner in Europe’s AI-powered HR landscape, demonstrating consistent revenue traction and expanding global reach without leaning on conventional venture capital.

Unlike traditional equity or venture debt, the new product is structured around performance, scalability, and data insights – offering a flexible, non-dilutive alternative for ambitious tech firms.

For Sesame, the capital will go directly toward acquiring new clients while also investing in continued innovation on its AI-driven platform.

“This operation demonstrates that another way of financing growth is possible. With this financial instrument, Sesame will be able to access capital in an agile and efficient manner, adapted to its pace of international growth,” added Alcalá. (Translated)

The funding enables Sesame to double down on product development while advancing its international growth agenda. The company has recently consolidated operations in Brazil and serves over 1,000 clients in Mexico. With this new capital, Sesame is strengthening its presence in Italy and Portugal and accelerating entry into key strategic markets like France and Germany.

This latest partnership with BBVA Spark points to an emerging trend in European startup finance, where alternative models are increasingly favoured by Founders aiming to scale without diluting ownership or slowing down product evolution.

The BBVA Spark–Sesame initiative is an interesting example into how tech-native financial tools are starting to reshape the path to global expansion for SaaS companies.

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In 2023, my nephew died back in Australia. As my parents were their only living relatives, they were forced to deal with his estate on the other side of Australia.

This process took over 18 months, involved repeated travel between Melbourne and Sydney, and cost thousands.

The problem was that my nephew had no plans in place, and everything from accessing bank accounts to closing subscriptions and selling vehicles and property was a laborious, burdensome process for my elderly parents.

It's a problem many families face, and one UK startup, Lyfeguard, aims to solve the scattered chaos of personal admin, financial clutter, and unspoken legacy planning.

From the outset, Lyfeguard stands out as a startup with a difference — it’s co-founded by father and son, Gary and Fraser Stewart. I spoke with them to learn more about the vision behind the company and the unique dynamics of building a business together as family.             

Turning tragedy into a mission

According to Gary, the idea for Lyfeguard emerged in 2021, when a couple of friends died really suddenly. And in both instances, their families asked him to go and help them with the estate administration. He admits:

"It was terribly problematic. It was very intrusive, really difficult actually finding things — rifling through people's personal possessions just to find documents."

This was compounded by the fact that, in both instances, the deceased were breadwinners, both employed and in their mid-to late fifties. 

"The families were effectively three months away from a financial disaster."

Fortunately, in both instances, he was able to find some life insurance, which maintained liquidity.

But it took more than 18 months to close down both estates, including probate and the government's inheritance tax process. 

"Even though they were spousal transfers, you still have to go through all the motions. There were also some business shares involved, so it was quite complex."

Sometime later, he asked himself:

'What would happen to my family if the same thing happened to me? Would they know where my stuff was?' And the answer was a resounding no." 

Facing the uncomfortable: building utility beyond death

His son Fraser recalls that when they discussed the challenge with a few people, their faces went blank — the realisation came that what we were talking about was largely focused on death.

"Storing documents and information in one place to pass on to family and friends sounds useful, but people don't want to think or plan for death.

That's probably why they end up in the situation of not having information organised."

So the duo knew they had to achieve the same end goal, but flip the idea on its head and give people day-to-day utility from the platform — while still getting that information there and keeping it up to date for family and friends to access later.

Bringing information to life through open finance

Lyfeguard works as an end-to-end life-management tool — a place to store information throughout someone's life, accessible whenever needed. 

"But we didn't want it to be just a static repository," shared Fraser.

"We wanted to bring that information to life, so we connected in open finance."

That means banking, credit cards, investment platforms, pension providers, loans, crypto, mortgages — pretty much any financial instrument — can be connected in real time. This not only makes it easier to input information, but it also allows Lyfeguard to visualise it in ways that help people actually understand their personal finances: spending, balances, transactions, net worth over time, etc.

Significantly, Lyfeguard offers an active platform, providing people with alerts about upcoming expiry dates, which is hugely helpful. 

"There's so much to remember: driving licence renewals, utility bills, MOTs — the list goes on. Lyfeguard gives people that nudge when it's time," shared Peter.

A secure vault for life's most important information

Lyfeguard offers a secure "vault" where users can store documents, passwords, financial accounts, investments, and other vital information — all in one place. On the financial side, it taps into open finance data to give users a unified view of assets, liabilities, spending flows, and net worth, helping demystify what's often fragmented across multiple institutions. 

"Ultimately, we want Lyfeguard to put the person at the centre — as their life-management hub — with the ability for everyone important in their life to gain access when they need it: spouse, children, adviser, lawyer, mortgage broker, bank, insurer, etc," shared Peter.

"Right now, information comes via emails, letters, apps — it's fragmented. The way we manage our lives is broken. We're trying to fix that."

Trust, transparency, and control

Beyond being a personal tool, Lyfeguard is built with collaboration and sharing in mind: users can designate "Trusted Users" (family, executors, advisers) who gain access under defined circumstances — now, upon incapacity, or after death. 

It's aimed not only at individuals but also serves professionals in the financial advice, legal, and estate-planning sectors by enabling smoother onboarding, richer client insights, and continuity of care across generations.

According to Fraser, it allows people to share as much or as little information as they want, at a point in time that suits them.

"They can choose to share very granular levels of data — either now or after they pass away."

The startup is expanding its reach to include a lasting power of attorney (LPA), which would cover an incapacitation event such as a serious accident, "but even now, the information can be shared immediately; it doesn't need to wait for that kind of event." 

The 360-degree client view

Lyfeguard originally started as a business-to-consumer product and later began speaking to a few verticals. 

Peter shared:

"The first was financial advice. They were telling us, 'We need all this information about our clients.'

To paint the picture — it was 2021, during or just after COVID. Advisers were seeing clients less in person, more via Teams, and struggling to get client information.

Their existing portals were focused largely on finances — assets and liabilities — which are important, but there's more to a client than what's in their bank account. There's all the softer, peripheral information that sits around that.

Then Consumer Duty came in, which is all about understanding clients better than ever and ensuring advice is genuinely tailored. They can only do that with accurate, up-to-date, personalised information." 

This aligned really nicely with Lyfeguard — giving a 360-degree view of the client.

Tackling the £5.5 trillion intergenerational wealth transfer

Further, Peter shared that advisers — especially in the UK but also globally — are struggling with the wealth-transfer issue. 

"Between now and 2050, £5.5 trillion will be transferred between generations in the UK. Currently, advisers lose about 90 per cent of clients when the original client dies; the beneficiaries almost never stay with that adviser."

This means they lose the assets under management too, which is how they get paid. If a million pounds' worth of assets are under management, even at a 1 per cent fee, that's £10,000 a year gone.

According to Fraser, Lyfeguard enables the adviser to see who the key people are — executors, beneficiaries, family — and the client can proactively share relevant information with them. 

"Other portals don't allow that. So it becomes collaborative planning where the adviser treats the whole family unit as the client, not just one individual."

Lifeguard is live with 11 independent financial-advice firms and, at the time of our interview, was in the process of signing with a private-client law firm representing around 100,000 clients in the UK.

"They like Lyfeguard because people want to store their wills electronically. Even though digital wills aren't legally valid yet, it gives executors a head start, and we annotate where the original will is held," shared Peter.

"The same goes for lasting powers of attorney. Lawyers also like that it keeps them relevant — clients usually come for a will or an LPA and never return. Lyfeguard keeps that connection alive."

The company is also in advanced discussions with a large UK insurance company that wants to include Lyfeguard in its employee-benefits offering, under the umbrella of financial wellness. Employees often have benefits like death-in-service insurance or private healthcare that their families don't even know exist. Lyfeguard brings it all into one view.

Fraser asserts:

"Lyfeguard's value is twofold: helping employees see everything in one place, and ensuring families know what's available to them."

The cross-border opportunity 

For now, the startup is focused on the UK, but the opportunity is global. Ireland's a great bridge into the EU — close, English-speaking, with a similar legal system. After that, Europe, Australia, and Canada.

"People are more mobile than ever — remote work, international assets, multiple pensions. Lyfeguard will also support storing foreign assets, shared Gary.

"Many people we speak to have pensions or property abroad, and it's incredibly difficult to keep track of. We want to solve that too."

From family to founding team

Of course, I had to ask about the dynamic of a father-and-son team. 

Gary admits that it was tricky at first:

"You have to redefine the relationship. But I feel privileged to work with my adult son. I have another son still finishing his accounting exams — I plan to rope him in next! It's special to build something together."

Fraser agreed, sharing, "There aren't many people who can say they've co-founded a company with their dad."

"It felt weird initially — almost like breaking and rebuilding the relationship — but now we're in a great rhythm. It's an absolute privilege."

The startup initially bootstrapped, then raised friends-and-family funding in 2022, with a few follow-on rounds. It's currently raising, targeting a group of angel investors. 

It recently completed the FinTech Innovation Lab in London, run by Accenture, which was a major boost.

According to Peter, "it introduced us to so many investors and large enterprise customers — including several of the UK's biggest banks. They love what we're doing. Banks move slowly, of course, but the long-term potential is huge."