Daniel Kjellén and Fredrik Hedberg, the founders of open banking fintech Tink, have emerged from stealth with Freda, a bootstrapped AI-native compliance startup. Tink was sold to Visa in one of Europe’s largest fintech exits, and the new venture is a deliberate departure from the VC-backed playbook.
Freda is building AI tools to help companies handle regulatory compliance, an area the founders say is still weighed down by manual processes. They argue that AI can remove the drudgery of compliance work and that a bootstrapped company can move without the pressure of outside investors.
The founders say there is no limitation in building a profitable business without external capital. Freda is starting with a focus on pragmatic, sustainable growth rather than chasing unicorn status.