As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly proliferates across enterprises, rushed mediocre implementations create a series of operational risks: bias, opaque decision-making processes, and unpredictable real-world behaviour. Calvin Risk, a Swiss startup born out of ETH Zurich, has raised 4 million in seed funding to help companies deploy AI safely and manage these risks through automated testing and quantitative risk assessment. The investment round was led by Join Capital and seed + speed Ventures, bringing total funding to more than $5 million since the company’s inception in 2022.
AI models often function as “black boxes”, making it difficult to understand how decisions are made or whether underlying biases are influencing outcomes. For companies, this opacity can lead to unintended consequences that threaten both their operations and reputations – especially as generative AI systems like ChatGPT increasingly power customer interactions. To make the stakes higher, the upcoming EU AI Act introduces strict requirements for AI systems, mandating that companies assess and document the risks of their AI models with severe penalties for non-compliance. Despite this, many organizations still rely on post-incident analysis or lack structured frameworks to address the safety of their AI. Calvin Risk is bridging that gap with a platform that uses adaptive assessments and continuous monitoring to provide a real-time overview of a company’s entire AI portfolio, predicting potential risks (qualitatively and quantitatively) and their associated value-at-risk.
“With AI systems becoming central to operations, proper corporate governance must now include explicit AI risk management at the Board level,” commented Julian Riebartsch, CEO and Founder of Calvin Risk. “Through our governance and risk management platform, we provide businesses with deep insights into their AI inventory, enabling them to analyse technical, ethical, and regulatory risks qualitatively and quantitatively.”
Founded in 2022 as a spin-off from ETH Zurich, one of Europe’s leading AI research institutions, Calvin Risk combines deep academic expertise with practical industry experience. The company’s product provides a modular framework for proactive AI governance with two core capabilities: governance digitization for internal directives and risk evaluations, and automated AI testing between development and deployment. Unlike traditional platforms focused solely on documentation or post-deployment fixes, Calvin Risk offers real-time insights through preventive, pre-deployment assessments, setting a new standard for responsible AI adoption. Its executive-friendly interface translates complex technical evaluations into clear, actionable insights, crucial for customer-facing AI, where transparency and reliability are paramount.
“As an investor, I see enormous potential in Calvin Risk to help shape the emerging market for AI risk management. The combination of technological excellence from academia and in-depth industry expertise makes this startup a real help for all those companies that use and build relevant AI-based business processes” commented Alexander Kölpin, Investor and Managing Partner at seed + speed Ventures.
The past 12 months have been transformational for Calvin Risk, with milestones in product development, customer adoption, and revenue growth. Notably, the company has already secured partnerships with leading global institutions including Aviva, one of the world’s largest insurers, who are using advanced risk assessment tools from Calvin Risk to ensure the robustness and fairness of its AI systems in customer-facing operations to market. The company has joined HITS Innovation Garage, a premier innovation hub powered by Generali. This partnership places Calvin Risk in close proximity to Generali’s diverse business units, creating valuable opportunities to explore and develop real-world use cases for Calvin Risk’s AI governance solutions.
Other partners include Lloyds Banking Group, the Audit Research Center (ARC Institute) for third-line defence solutions and others demonstrating strong market validation across multiple sectors.
Another milestone for Calvin Risk is its collaboration with Lufthansa Industry Solutions, resulting in the first GenAI model to earn an “Assessment Seal Certification” from leading certification company TÜV Süd. This certification, pivotal as industries anticipate the EU AI Act, reflects Calvin Risk’s capacity to guarantee AI models meet rigorous technical and ethical benchmarks.
Named the top AI risk management tool for banking by Hub France IAs and winning Model Risk Management Product of the Year at Risk.net’s Markets Technology Awards 2024, the company is quickly building a reputation as a leader in safe AI deployment. Initially focused on financial services, Calvin Risk’s platform has proven equally valuable for transportation, telecommunications, and other sectors implementing AI at scale.
“We are thrilled to be the lead investor in Calvin Risk’s seed round. Their innovative approach, combined with a strong team and a clear vision, positions them to become a vital resource for organisations navigating the complexities of AI compliance and risk management. We believe Calvin Risk will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of AI governance and are excited to support their journey” added Tobias Schirmer, Founding Partner at Join Capital.
Looking ahead, Calvin Risk plans to expand its platform’s capabilities to support the business & analytics team of even more of their governance efforts while making sure that proper control and oversight is implemented, accessible, and easy to understand for control functions and management.
This latest funding round will accelerate Calvin Risk’s product development, enabling it to scale its platform, enhance its AI risk assessment tools, and expand its market reach across Europe. As AI adoption accelerates across industries, Calvin Risk remains committed to ushering in a new era of trustworthy AI. “Our goal is to ensure every enterprise can innovate confidently, while maintaining the highest standards of safety and compliance,” added Julian Riebartsch.
About Calvin Risk
Calvin Risk is a Swiss-based startup helping companies create and manage trustworthy AI that is aligned with humanity. Founded in 2022 as an ETH Zurich spin-off, the company is building the most advanced platform for governance digitalization and assessing risks associated with AI in commercial use. The Calvin platform creates a transparency, governance and standardization framework for enterprises to manage their AI portfolios, while ensuring that AI remains safe and compliant with the highest ethical standards and impending regulatory requirements. For more information: https://calvin-risk.com
