HelmGuard raises $7.3M for AI-driven

London-based governance, risk and compliance startup HelmGuard has raised $7.3 million in seed funding. The round was co-led by Infinity Ventures and Frontline, with FinTech Collective, Stage 2 Capital and Entrepreneurs First also participating.

Founded by former Palantir executive John Daley and Jack Miller, the company targets a persistent problem in regulated sectors. Risk and compliance teams traditionally depend on manual questionnaires and document reviews. HelmGuard's platform uses specialised AI agents to assess risk information directly from a company's own systems, aiming to automate this cumbersome process.

The platform's core function

The technology consolidates data from company documents and source systems into a single layer. AI agents then use this information to automate specific workflows. These include third-party risk management, control gap assessments, and a new focus on AI agent assurance. The system provides citations and reasoning traces to support reviews by auditors and regulators.

John Daley, HelmGuard's CEO, criticised the legacy approach. He said many existing platforms were built to document processes, not to aid operational decisions. "Our agents go to the source to collect and assess risk signals directly, abstracting away the manual data collection and assessment work that burns thousands of hours annually," Daley stated. The new funding is intended to scale this capability.

Governing the AI agents themselves

A significant part of HelmGuard's development is now focused on the risks posed by AI. The company is building an agent assurance layer designed to evaluate AI agent behaviour in real-time. As AI models update and gain new capabilities, their risk profiles can shift rapidly, making old certifications obsolete.

This challenge led to the concept of a Verified Risk Network. Jack Miller, the CTO, explained the shift. "The Verified Risk Network makes the unit of assurance a claim assessed directly by an agent, rather than a document, and enables agent-to-agent exchange on a continuous basis," he said. The goal is continuous assessment instead of periodic snapshots.

Expansion plans

The seed investment will fuel a geographic and team expansion. HelmGuard plans to establish a presence in New York and San Francisco to complement its London headquarters. The company also aims to grow its engineering and commercial teams. Further development of the agent assurance technology remains a core priority. The startup is positioning itself at the intersection of regulatory compliance and the operational risks introduced by widespread AI adoption.