Morning Innovators ⚡ In less than 5 minutes, we’ll cover…

🥳 The best funding opportunities, events and jobs in the Start-Up world this week
📰 This week’s biggest news stories in the Start-Up world
🤺 How this Start-Up is fighting AI with AI
💘 How you can turn the search fir love into viral marketing
🧠 A tool that helps access the knowledge of seasoned pros Pro-Bono

✨ Last week’s most clicked link, was this link taking you through to the Deel pitch competition in which you can win $1m for your startup!

Happy hustling,

Rich

🎤 Opportunities + Events

💨 a16z have just launched their Alpha Fellowship programme for pre-idea/pre-team/pre-everything Founders, with a up to $1.27m in funding per startup - apply here!

🗽 Thrive capital have just announced $10bn of new funds, with $1bn allocated to early-stage investments in exciting technology startups - contact the team here!

🍚 Redrice Ventures have just launched a £7m fund to back early-stage consumer brands, platforms and B2B tech solutions - contact the team here!

We now have a community of thousands of Start-Ups and Founders, here are the hottest Start-Up job opportunities from the Innovators Uncensored community on our very own Start-Ups Job Board!

💼 Start-Up Jobs

📈 Growth Marketer, Noxus
🛠 Operations Associate, Factored
🧑‍💻 Chief Technology Officer, Voxmind

🧑‍⚖️ Getir Founders sue investor Mubadala for $700m. Sifted

☁️ Mistral AI buys Koyeb in first acquisitions to back its cloud ambitions. TechCrunch

🦞 OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger joins OpenAI. TechCrunch
 
✍️ UKRI launches its first-ever AI strategy. UKTN

Planning a trip for business or pleasure?

Final Rentals, a pioneering car rental fintech headquartered in Wales, has revolutionised the industry with its innovative approach and product-centric strategy. By addressing key challenges within the car rental sector, Finalrentals has experienced remarkable growth, increasing its size sixfold in the past 12 months. The company's expansion is not limited to growth metrics alone; it has also successfully established a robust global presence, extending its footprint across the EU and the Caribbean.

Book your rental here!

Asda went viral this Valentine’s, some people loved it, others loathed it - what do you think?

This Valentine’s day, Asda decided they’d play the role of Cupid and help shoppers find love. So, if you were a single shopper looking for love, you could use their red baskets to signal to other shoppers that you’re open to conversation.

This was sent all over social media, some people said it was a nice way to make the shopping experience a bit more exciting and encourage human connection, others said it was too intrusive.

What do you think?

Each week we highlight our favourite tools - either something we’ve been using in our businesses, or tools that our Start-Up community have recommended.

All Together offers founders a unique model: pro-bono advice from world leading CEOs and founders who genuinely want to help. Tap into tailored support, handpicked events and a high-quality community built around momentum. If you want clarity, connections and guidance without a sales agenda, All Together is the tool you’ll want in your kit. 

🛡️ HEDI: Fighting AI With AI in the War on Insurance Fraud

Insurance fraud isn’t new.

But the scale and sophistication of it is.

Since Covid, insurance claims have surged - and with the rise of generative AI, fraud has evolved from opportunistic to industrial. Deepfakes. Forged documents. Synthetic identities. AI-generated evidence. What used to require coordination and skill can now be produced at scale with a laptop.

That’s exactly why HEDI was created.

Founded by Seif and Roxana, HEDI builds proprietary AI models that help insurance companies detect sophisticated fraud before they pay out. Their technology covers the entire insurance workflow, from onboarding and underwriting to claims processing and contract cancellation - with 92% accuracy.

Already live with major European insurers and expanding into the GCC, HEDI exists for one reason:

Fraud is evolving fast. Insurers need to evolve faster.

A Co-Founder Who Fills the Blind Spots

Seif didn’t look for a clone when building HEDI.

He found Roxana at École Polytechnique. While he brought deep technical conviction around AI and fraud detection, Roxana came with a different, but complementary, edge.

Her background spans Sciences Po, market assessment and sales strategy in the nuclear sector, and leading AI operations for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Same urgency. Same belief in the problem. Completely different skill sets.

And that’s intentional.

That complementary dynamic became foundational to how HEDI was built, technical depth paired with commercial strategy.

Winning the First Customers Without Cold Outreach

HEDI didn’t begin by chasing insurers.

Insurers came to them.

Seif and Roxana focused heavily on content from the outset, not fluffy thought leadership, but detailed breakdowns of how AI-driven fraud actually works. They explained how deepfakes are created. How documents are forged. What synthetic fraud patterns look like in real-world systems.

That positioning changed everything.

Fraud managers began reaching out inbound. And when someone approaches you having already read your analysis and trusts your expertise, the sales dynamic shifts entirely.

You’re no longer convincing them they have a problem.
You’re showing them you’re the solution.

That strategy led to early traction with major insurers like Groupama and La Banque Postale.

Scaling: Double Down on What Works

Like most startups, HEDI experimented.

Not every strategy worked. Some channels didn’t stick. But instead of endlessly testing new ideas, they leaned into what was already producing results:

• Deep technical content

• Inbound expertise positioning

• Strategic partnerships

• Accelerator programs

Programs like Qatar FinTech Hub and Founders Inc. gave HEDI credibility, warm introductions, and international exposure - especially into the GCC market.

Partnerships also allowed them to plug into existing distribution channels rather than building everything from scratch.

The lesson?

Find what works. Then go all in.

A Hard Pivot, and an Even Harder Sales Cycle

HEDI didn’t start in insurance fraud.

They initially explored fake review detection. But insurance offered a much larger total addressable market and a sharper, more urgent pain point. The pivot was decisive, and, in hindsight, overdue.

Another tough learning curve? Enterprise sales.

Selling innovation to insurers means navigating compliance, IT security, legal, and procurement, each with veto power. Early on, HEDI underestimated just how long these cycles would take. Some deals stretched 6–9 months when they’d planned for three.

That “pilot-to-contract gap” became a key focus area. Now, Seif qualifies prospects far more rigorously and sets clear timelines from day one.

In regulated industries, patience isn’t optional.
And internal champions are everything.

Bootstrapped, Technical, and Revenue-First

HEDI has been largely bootstrapped.

Supported by the École Polytechnique incubation ecosystem and French startup grants, the team kept burn extremely low. As deeply technical Founders, they built the core product themselves rather than outsourcing.

They reached €150K ARR before seriously pursuing external funding.

Now actively fundraising and expanding internationally, Seif’s philosophy is clear:

Revenue buys leverage.

The Biggest Challenge? Selling to the Risk-Averse

Fraud detection is mission-critical. Insurers know they need it.

But they’re also inherently risk-averse.

Procurement cycles are complex. Stakeholders are layered. Decision-making is cautious by design. HEDI’s biggest challenge hasn’t been product, it’s navigating the institutional inertia of large, regulated organisations.

That experience reinforced one truth:
In enterprise B2B, endurance is a competitive advantage.

The Three Core Lessons

If Seif were starting HEDI again, he’d do three things differently:

1. Start with distribution, not just product.
Brilliant technology is irrelevant if the right decision-makers never see it.

2. Go international earlier.
France was a natural launchpad, but fraud is global. Expansion into the GCC market is now a major focus - and something he would have prioritised sooner.

3. Hire for speed, not perfection.
In a startup, adaptability beats flawless CVs. Some of HEDI’s biggest progress came when they hired hungry, fast learners over “perfect” profiles.

AI vs AI

HEDI sits at the intersection of two accelerating forces: the rise of generative AI and the growing sophistication of financial fraud.

As fraudsters adopt AI to scale deception, insurers need equally advanced tools to defend against it.

That’s the mission.

Not just catching fraud, but staying one step ahead of how it evolves.

And in a world where AI lowers the barrier to deception, that mission is only becoming more urgent.

Next week I’ll be highlighting another awesome Start-Up, as well as sharing all the usuals including funding opportunities, Start-Up news, plus plenty of awesome tips, tricks and tools.

P.S. Connect with me on LinkedIn…