Steward,
an AI-first AML platform purpose-built for complex investor onboarding and
ongoing monitoring, has raised $5 million to advance automation in compliance
operations. The round was led by Motive Partners, with participation from
Outward VC, Cooley, and a group of founders and operators. The oversubscribed
round also included angel investors such as Shai Wininger, Mark Ransford, Tom
Keiser, Remy Astié, Ulric Musset, Mushegh Tovmasyan, and Keith Grose.
As
investor structures become more sophisticated, onboarding has grown
increasingly complex. Compliance processes often break down across layered
ownership chains, leading to manual reviews, fragmented communication, and
delays across the financial industry.
Steward
addresses this by automating AML and KYC workflows for complex investor
profiles. Its platform integrates document collection, screening, risk
assessment, and ongoing reviews into a single system, using AI to interpret
multi-layered and cross-border ownership structures. It also enables secure,
shareable Investor Profiles, allowing firms to exchange compliance data more
efficiently.
Founded
by Arik Oslerne (CEO), former COO of Vauban, and Moshe Lieberman (CTO), an
early employee at Lemonade and Fiverr, Steward draws on deep experience in
financial infrastructure and software-driven transformation to address
longstanding inefficiencies in investor onboarding.
Commenting
on the challenges in compliance, Arik Oslerne said it has long scaled in a linear way:
Firms
can’t keep up with growing workloads using existing resources, leading to
repeated remediation cycles and increasing regulatory pressure. AI offers a
path to address these challenges, which is what Steward is designed to do.
The
company reports that its system enables same-day onboarding in 80 per cent of
cases, regardless of investor complexity. Its clients include Connect Ventures,
Unruly Capital, IAB Group, as well as Motive Partners and Outward VC, alongside
several Tier 1 institutional allocators.
Dual-headquartered
in New York and London, Steward plans to use the new funding to expand its
product capabilities and scale its team.