Kiwi financial advice AI assistant Marloo banks $4.2 million pre-Seed

An AI assistant designed for financial advisers, developed by New Zealand fintech Marloo has trousered A$4.2 million in pre-Seed funding.

This round was led by Blackbird Ventures, with support from CoVentures, Brand Fund and a Who’s Who of angel investors, including Xero cofounder Philip Fierlinger, Stake’s Matt Leibowitz, Halter’s Craig Piggott, Heidi Health’s Tom Kelly, Tom Hambrett, chief legal officer at Revolut, and Leighton Roberts from Sharesies.

Marloo set out to tackle the housekeeping challenge faced by financial advisers, with data suggesting that up to 60% of the total cost of advice goes to administration and compliance, which means people seeking help spend more on paperwork than actual advice.

Marloo was founded in June 2024 by Shakeel Lala, Hardy Michel, and Ben Robertson in Auckland, New Zealand.

Sydney-based Lala, the CEO and a former product lead at Sharies, said too many financial advisers are stuck with tools that lock their clients’ data across different systems.

“Our goal at Marloo is to empower advisers by building the number one product for them, loved for its design, simplicity, and ease of use,” he said.

“We are committed to building the AI assistant that the market is clearly asking for.”

Marloo turns client meetings, into an advice document, review letter, or communication written in an adviser’s own style and tone.

The ‘Ask Marloo’ feature allows an adviser to ask anything across all stored information – meeting transcripts, uploaded document, and notes – to find a critical detail from a conversation years ago, track a client’s evolving goals, or generate a summary of their entire financial journey, turning their archive into an instantly searchable knowledge base.

The AI compliance tech platform now has customers in wealth, planning, insurance, and mortgage companies in Australia, the UK, and New Zealand, and is growing at 45% month-on-month to meet demand.

The new cash will go towards the rollout of new features, driven by incredible customer feedback.

Blackbird partner Samantha Wong said Marloo “reminds us of the early days of Canva”.

“What makes them exceptional is their product obsession: prioritising a beautiful, intuitive AI-first experience, adopting a global-first mindset, and building a product-led strategy,” she said.