Karavel, an AI-powered compliance platform for highly regulated sectors, has secured £1.25 million in pre-seed funding in a round led by Fuel Ventures.
The investment will support product development and accelerate Karavel’s commercial expansion in the UK and Europe as the company looks to modernize compliance operations for organizations facing increasingly complex regulatory scrutiny.
Karavel is aimed at legal, compliance and marketing teams operating in industries such as financial services, fintech, insurance, healthcare and consumer lending. Its platform brings together regulatory monitoring, marketing and advertising reviews, horizon scanning and compliance gap analysis into a single, AI-driven interface, replacing the fragmented and manual processes still prevalent in regulated industries.
The funding comes at a time when pressure on compliance teams is increasing. Regulatory frameworks are expanding, enforcement is increasing, and the costs of non-compliance continue to rise. Yet many companies still rely on spreadsheets, manual reports, and outside legal support to track regulatory changes and approve notices, creating bottlenecks, slowing product launches, and driving up costs.
Karavel was founded by Pedro Sousa and Nav Garcha in response to these challenges. The pair bring experience from companies such as Revolut, Deliveroo, CNN and ClearScore and say the platform was born out of their own frustration with outdated compliance systems.
Karavel’s technology automates financial promotions and advertising reviews, monitors regulatory updates in real-time, and flags relevant changes as they occur. Its AI analyzes new rules, extracts applicable requirements, and provides clear, actionable guidance to help teams respond quickly and confidently.
The company says the results are already significant. The AdCheck tool allows financial advertising to be reviewed up to three times faster, with a first-pass approval rate of 91 percent. Meanwhile, the horizon scanning feature replaces bi-weekly manual reporting with daily automated alerts, resulting in up to a fourteen-fold increase in efficiency and reducing external legal spend by up to 73 percent within the first year.
Pedro Sousa, co-founder of Karavel, said the platform was designed to address the real-world pressures compliance professionals face on a daily basis.
“During my time leading compliance, I experienced firsthand the manual, repetitive work, fragmented processes and the constant fear that something important might be missed,” he said. “We built Karavel to give compliance, legal and marketing teams the clarity, automation and trust I always wanted in previous roles.”
Mark Pearson, founder of Fuel Ventures, said Karavel addresses one of the most pressing operational challenges in regulated sectors.
“Karavel is redefining how companies interpret regulations, review content and coordinate across teams,” he said. “The founders have combined deep compliance expertise with advanced AI to replace legacy workflows with intelligent systems that deliver real commercial impact. We are proud to support their vision as they scale.”
With regulatory scrutiny showing no signs of easing, Karavel is positioning itself as a key infrastructure platform for companies that need to act quickly without compromising compliance.
