A syndicate of 20 business angels led by lead investor Simon Bell has invested £250,000 in the first small business finance assistant powered by Gen AI. The equity investment has been match-funded with a further £250,000 from the Development Bank of Wales’ Wales Angel Co-investment Fund.
Founded in August 2023 by Nick Carlton and Dan Mines, Menna.ai helps small business owners to make better financial decisions by combining generative AI with rich real-time data. Nick was previously Chief Product Officer for Confused.com and Coincover while Dan was Chief Information Officer for Admiral Money and Chief Product Officer for European open banking platform Yolt.
Menna.ai offers real-time transaction alerts, forecasts, insights, smart recommendations savings and funding offers. It is free to use and connects with banking, e-commerce, EPOS and accounting software accounts.
Menna Limited is based at the Cardiff University Social Science Research Park (SPARK). The company will use the £500,000 equity investment to accelerate the development of the product ready for market, recruiting a team of five tech specialists and preparing for a full launch in early 2025. Menna.ai will be marketed direct to customer and via partnerships with third party financial services providers throughout the UK.
Co-founder Nick Carlton said: “We believe that every small business owner should have access to a finance manager, and that’s why we created Menna. There are 5.5 million small businesses in the UK, but most owners lack the skills and resources to run their businesses effectively because they don’t have formal financial training or access to advice.
Dan Mines added: “We have developed a digital finance assistant for small businesses. From decisions on the affordability of recruitment to funding and capital expenditures, Menna helps small business owners make better financial decisions.
“We’ve worked hard over the last year to build the proof of concept, embed the business within the local ecosystem and become investment ready. With home-grown support, this funding from our investors enables us to get Menna customer ready with further development and investment in people who want to join us on our journey as we scale-up from a Cardiff-based start-up to what we hope will be a UK success story that is rooted firmly in Wales and returning value back.”
Simon Bell of fintech syndicate Rebel Syndicate is the lead investor. He said: “Menna.ai is like a Finance Director in your pocket, offering clear, data-driven insight to help business owners to stay on top of their finances and manage everything in one place. As a tech and data business that is proud to be Welsh and committed to remaining in Wales, it is an attractive proposition to investors who, as a syndicate, have collectively realised the extra firepower of match-funding from the Development Bank of Wales.”
Angels Invest Wales Operations Manager Tom Preene added: “Sole traders and micro businesses are the backbone of our economy yet small business finance is a large and underserved global market so there is a significant opportunity for Menna. With an experienced and ambitious team, this is a business that is emerging quickly at the forefront of the fintech industry in Wales.”
The £8 million Wales Angel Co-investment Fund provides Welsh businesses with a key source of alternative finance through the encouragement of more active angel investment. The five-year fund supports the creation of angel syndicates and networks across Wales by providing loans and equity up to £250,000 to investors looking for co-investment.
