Company: Serene
Founders: Savannah Price (Chief Executive Officer), Ehsan Faridifar (Chief Data Scientist)
Website: https://www.myserene.io/
About Serene
Serene is a proactive consumer vulnerability insights engine for financial institutions, using AI and behavioural science to help firms identify and support customers at scale. Since our founding in 2023, we’ve pioneered a new category of enterprise SaaS that moves beyond reactive compliance to a data-driven approach that is both commercially beneficial and socially impactful.
Our journey began by tackling a significant industry challenge: the inability of traditional systems to effectively identify and support customers facing complex, often hidden, vulnerabilities. The regulatory landscape, particularly the FCA’s Consumer Duty, placed a new responsibility on firms, but existing tools were reactive and inadequate. They were too slow to respond to evolving customer needs and failed to connect the dots across fragmented data sources, leading to unmanaged, fragmented risk. We overcame this by building a purpose-built solution from the ground up, leveraging real-time data analysis and machine learning to create a vulnerability insights engine that provides predictive insights, not just historical reporting.
The challenges we’ve faced are typical of mission-driven startups but magnified by the sensitivity of our sector. Building trust has been critical. Firms must be confident that our AI-driven models are accurate, explainable, and compliant. We invested early in ISO 27001 accreditation, ethical AI safeguards, and a data minimisation design. We also worked hard to overcome the perception that vulnerability is a niche issue. With over half of UK adults showing at least one characteristic of vulnerability, shifting industry mindsets from reactive case management to proactive prevention has required persistence, evidence, and strong partnerships.
Serene’s impact on the SaaS industry is defined by this shift from reactive to proactive vulnerability management. We’ve established a new standard for how firms approach customer care, moving it from a cost centre to a proven driver of commercial value. By integrating seamlessly with existing systems, we’ve demonstrated that responsible business practices can be a powerful competitive advantage. The future of SaaS is defined by mission-led applications that solve complex, systemic problems. Serene is a prime example of this new wave, transforming the way financial services operate, creating a model for how enterprise software can drive positive social change.
