Tink Founders Launch Freda to Automate Compliance With AI Agents

Tink Founders Launch Freda to Transform Compliance

Daniel Kjellén and Fredrik Hedberg, the Tink founders who sold their open banking platform to Visa for $2.2 billion in 2022, have launched Freda, an agentic compliance startup that emerged from stealth on September 23.1

1

2

2

The bootstrapped agentic compliance platform addresses the challenges the founders experienced firsthand while scaling Tink to a 700-person company overseen by three regulators, where compliance became what Kjellén described as "the speed-limiter on growth, innovation, and ambition."2

2

Freda spent over a year building its technology, agentic knowledge base, and recruiting compliance specialists and engineers before its public debut.1

1

Agentic Compliance Platform Built on Regulatory Engine

Freda's agentic compliance platform harvests hundreds of millions of laws, rules, and standards from regulatory authorities down to local provisions by jurisdiction, converting this data into machine-readable logic.1

1

The system quickly determines which regulations apply to any company, then deploys AI agents that maintain ongoing compliance. According to the company, the platform lets users "discover every framework and obligation" applicable to their business and create tailored programs to meet them.2

2

The founding team includes Adam Ivarsson, Tink's former global VP, who joins Kjellén and Hedberg in building the new venture.1

1

How AI Agents Automate End-to-End Compliance Tasks

Freda's AI agents automate compliance processes by running end-to-end workflows in connected systems where work actually happens, moving beyond the limitations of pre-AI compliance tools.2

2

CTO Fredrik Hedberg explained that "high-trust organisations can't run compliance on a general-purpose model that knows a little about everything and nothing about them."1

1

Freda builds a knowledge graph of each client's organization from the systems they already run on, grounding every action agents take in both the regulatory engine and the client's specific organizational context. This approach differs from AI assistants that merely talk about compliance, creating instead a system that executes compliance workflows across every framework, contract, vendor, system, and person.2

2

Why Compliance Automation Matters Now

The inefficiency and inaccuracy of manual processes taxed Tink far beyond its legal and compliance teams, stretching product timelines from weeks to months and even years, according to Hedberg.1

1

Freda addresses what the company describes as compliance work at a scale that has never been possible to systemize before AI. With AI, systems can read a rule, understand what it requires, and act on it at scale, transforming compliance from a place to record work people did into a system that actually does the work.2

2

Christopher Phillips, director of financial crime industry engagement at Flagright, noted in a recent conversation about agentic AI in banking compliance that "the AI doesn't get bored. It doesn't get fatigued," resulting in robust output that is easy to audit.2

2

What This Means for Compliance and Auditability

Freda's launch signals a shift in how companies approach regulatory obligations, with AI agents capable of maintaining compliance continuously rather than through periodic manual reviews. Phillips emphasized that humans still need to provide "effective challenge" by understanding why an AI agent reached its conclusions and documenting agreement or disagreement.2

2

This human-AI collaboration model preserves auditability while dramatically reducing the burden on compliance teams. For organizations facing the same challenges Tink experienced, Freda offers what Hedberg called "the tool we wish we'd had when scaling Tink," potentially removing compliance as a bottleneck to growth and innovation.1

1

The Sweden-based agentic compliance startup enters a market where regulatory complexity continues to increase, making automated solutions increasingly valuable for businesses navigating multiple jurisdictions and frameworks.