Deloitte spinout Arteria AI closes $46-million CAD Series B to help banks turn documents into data

Toronto-based enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) startup Arteria AI, which helps some of the world’s largest banks address documentation challenges, has secured about $46 million CAD ($30 million USD) in Series B funding to fuel its go-to-market and product development efforts.

Arteria AI sells AI-powered software designed to help financial institutions generate, collaborate on, and analyze various documents, from contracts to invoices and notices. The company structures data at the beginning of the documentation lifecycle, giving customers access to real-time reporting and analytics throughout the workflow.

Arteria AI’s customers include a number of undisclosed global Tier 1 banks.

The startup’s Series B round was led by United States-based GGV Capital, with support from existing backers Illuminate Financial, Information Venture Partners (Information VP), BDC Capital, and Citi. The all-equity, all-primary round closed in September, and brings Arteria AI’s total funding to $69 million CAD.

“We were fortunate to have had a lot of interest though we weren’t raising at the time (our plan was to go to market in the fall),” Arteria AI co-founder and CEO Shelby Austin told BetaKit. “But when one of the best funds in the world ends up on your doorstep, you think hard about when to raise.”

Austin added that Arteria AI is happy with the deal that came to be, calling it “not too much and not too little.” She claimed the terms of the round were straightforward, noting that “there was no atypical structure.” While Austin declined to disclose Arteria AI’s latest valuation, she called the firm’s Series B financing a “very significant up round” compared to its 2021 Series A funding.

Arteria AI’s contract lifecycle management software was initially developed by professional services giant Deloitte under the name dTrax. In 2020, dTrax rebranded to Arteria AI and was spun out as an independent company. Austin joined Deloitte after her previous firm, ATD Legal, was acquired by the company. She previously led Deloitte’s Omnia AI team and served as managing partner of growth and investments.

This round comes about three years after Arteria AI was spun out of Deloitte, and roughly two years after the startup closed $13.7 million CAD in Series A funding led by Information VP and Illuminate, with participation from Golden Ventures and StandUp Ventures and acquired assets from United Kingdom-based H4.

In 2022, BDC Capital and Citi, through the bank’s strategic investing arm SPRINT, both made undisclosed strategic investments in Arteria AI.

According to Austin, Arteria AI has experience triple digit growth since its inception. Over this past year, Arteria AI has acquired its largest customers and tripled its recurring revenue. Today, the startup’s customers include Citi, Goldman Sachs, and a number of undisclosed global Tier 1 banks.

“We are seeing ourselves more and more as a core component of the infrastructure stack, and our position is growing in financial services around the world,” said Austin.

Citi COO of financial institution sales and solutions Fernando Dammert said in a statement that there is “significant value” in getting documentation right given that it lies at the centre of customer experience. Per Dammert, Arteria AI has already enabled Citi to improve collaboration and bring value to its clients.

For Arteria AI, which currently has less than 100 employees, a big focus with this funding will be growing its team, with a particular focus on New York City and London, United Kingdom, where the company already has operations. Austin noted that Arteria AI has already made some prominent hires from Goldman Sachs, State Street, Soc Gen, and DB.

“We have huge traction and clear product-market fit, so we’ll continue adding horsepower to run the motion in more places,” said Austin.

As it looks to do just that, Austin said that Arteria AI plans to stay disciplined. “You will see us scale up quickly, but we’re focused on growing in the right ways,” she said. “The Arteria way is to grow efficiently and effectively—never growth for growth’s sake.”

Austin noted that another area of focus for Arteria AI going forward is product development. “Running a modern, high-growth AI company is not cheap,” she said. “We will continue to invest in our research to create highly relevant models for our customers, and ensure our product continues to have the functionality to solve the most important problems for our clients.”

UPDATE (10/26/23): This story was updated to include information and commentary from Arteria AI co-founder and CEO Shelby Austin.

Feature image courtesy Arteria AI.