A pair of Revolut alumni have secured $10 million in funding for their startup Condukt, which is emerging from stealth to tackle the notoriously expensive and inefficient world of financial compliance. The round, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and MMC Ventures, is a significant bet that AI agents can transform the industry’s archaic “know-your-business” (KYB) processes from a costly bottleneck into a real-time, automated asset.
Condukt’s proposition is simple but ambitious: replace static, periodic compliance checks with a perpetual, always-on monitoring system. For decades, financial institutions have relied on manual reviews and outdated datasets to verify their business customers, a process that is both labor-intensive and increasingly ineffective. This old model creates a snapshot in time, leaving banks and fintechs blind to risk changes that happen between checks.
This blindness is becoming an existential threat. According to a recent Forrester report cited by the company, businesses spend a staggering $206 billion annually on financial crime compliance, with labor costs being the primary driver. Meanwhile, regulators are losing patience. In 2025 alone, anti-money laundering (AML) penalties surpassed $6 billion by July, signaling a new era of intense scrutiny.
“Compliance should be a growth enabler, not a bottleneck,” said Paulo Guichard, Condukt’s co-founder and CEO, in a statement. “We designed Condukt as an always-on nervous system that lives and breathes real-time data.”
From snapshots to a live feed
Condukt’s platform introduces what it calls a proprietary real-time data layer that syncs continuously with a client’s operations. On top of this layer, it deploys AI agents to automate workflows, monitor for changes, and effectively provide constant oversight. The goal is to move the industry from a reactive, check-the-box exercise to a proactive, continuous state of compliance.
“With regulators moving towards perpetual KYB, and the cost of meeting these demands via manual processes weighing heavy on balance sheets, compliance teams face a perfect storm,” added co-founder Bhasker Rao.
The founders, Guichard and Rao, bring serious fintech credibility to the table. They met while working at Revolut Business, having previously held senior roles at SumUp and Square (now Block), respectively. This experience in the trenches of high-growth fintech, where onboarding speed is critical, has clearly shaped their approach.
While Condukt has operated in stealth since May 2023, it hasn’t been idle. The company revealed it’s already powering compliance for a roster of top-tier global fintechs, including Wise, Tide, Mollie, Rakuten, and Shift4. Landing these clients before a public launch is a powerful validation of its technology and a clear signal to the market that its solution addresses a real, painful problem.
The new funding will be used to push deeper into the world of traditional financial institutions, which are often saddled with the most complex and outdated legacy systems. The company also plans to accelerate its go-to-market strategy and hire more engineering talent for its teams in London and Porto.
Investors see a category-defining opportunity. “Condukt is truly redefining compliance with its real-time data infrastructure, delivering a foundational shift from periodic to perpetual oversight,” said Alex Schmitt, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Ollie Richards, Partner at MMC Ventures, echoed the sentiment, calling the compliance market “at an inflection point” and Condugkt’s vision for “agentic, perpetual KYB” the future of risk management. For an industry drowning in costs and regulatory pressure, that future can’t come soon enough.
