AN EDINBURGH tech start-up that is chaired by former Standard Life chief executive Sandy Crombie is preparing the ground for an eventual float on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) after closing a seed funding round.
Amiqus, whose software allows professional services firms to carry out money-laundering checks on prospective clients, has raised several hundred thousand pounds in a funding round launched in September.
Investors include San Francisco-based Fifth Era Capital as well as Mr Crombie, former Dickson Minto partner Kevan McDonald and CH&Co chairman Tim Jones and chief executive Bill Toner.
Amiqus founder and chief executive Callum Murray said that as the business is already generating revenue from its product the aim of the fundraising is to “take us to a sustainable position”, meaning the experience of the investors is just as important as the money they have put forward.
“The overall aim is to list on AIM and that will take six to eight years,” Mr Murray said.
“There are a lot of people who can add in cash but we have picked people who will be able to [add value in other ways].”
He said Mr Crombie’s experience at Standard Life, where he oversaw the demutualisation of the financial services giant, would be invaluable in getting Amiqus ready for a stock market listing.
Similarly, Mr Murray said that Fifth Era’s experience in the US would make the firm’s planned expansion into that market more straightforward.
“For now our focus is on the UK across financial services, legal and other regulated sectors but when we go to the US it makes sense to have someone there on the ground,” Mr Murray said.
“The intention is that all the investors are capable and interested in following on.
“We will do a more significant round as required if we get international opportunities.”
Mr Murray said he expects the business to look at expanding into the US market next year, but added that “other countries in the EU” could also be a possibility.
Founded in 2015, Amicus originally planned to build software that allowed businesses to resolve disputes in an online forum, but has focused on anti-money laundering, compliance and identity checks as a precursor to that.
“We spoke to a number of firms and they said we’d have to resolve how they engage with clients first before moving onto anything else,” Mr Murray said.
“If we can fix that then they’ll engage further down the line.
“This is the first part of an overall system. It will build trust with clients then we can move on to solve other issues around manual and paper-based processes.”
Currently around 35 different firms use Amiqus’s software, which allows them to carry out instant anti-money laundering checks on prospective clients.
“Previously they would have had to email documents or visit a firm to get a series of photocopies and that’s not secure,” Mr Murray said.
Updated money laundering rules will be enforced by new regulator the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision when it launches at the beginning of next year.
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