AI startup Skwky closes pre seed round backed by City of London investment professionals
This article covers Skwky, an AI startup, which has closed an SEIS pre-seed funding round fully subscribed by City of London investment professionals. The funding backs an AI mediator aimed at schools and other group settings, supporting teachers and pastoral staff with tools that emphasise safety and data protection.
Skwky, an AI startup founded by father and son Chris and Jai Twyman, has closed a SEIS pre-seed funding round with 100% participation from City of London investment professionals. The London-based company is positioning its AI mediator for use in schools and other group settings, emphasising safety and data protection as it seeks early adoption among educators.
Why it matters
Classroom behaviour and peer conflict are persistent challenges for schools, and the use of AI in those settings raises questions about safety, bias and privacy. Skwky is one of a small but growing number of ventures that aim to apply machine learning to interpersonal mediation while making safeguarding a central design constraint. The company’s SEIS-backed pre-seed close signals early appetite from local angel and professional investors for AI tools that foreground safety rather than novelty.
Inside the product
Skwky describes its platform as an AI mediator that can facilitate conversations among two or more participants. The system is trained on restorative principles and conflict resolution techniques and incorporates what the company calls “emotional scoring” to assess the tone and escalation risk in conversations.
The product’s initial focus is education: teachers and pastoral staff can use the tool to de-escalate incidents inside and outside the classroom, and to provide structured follow-up conversations. Skwky says it has prioritised data protection and safeguards for young users, although the company has not published technical details or independent evaluations of its models in the announcement.
Who are the investors?
Skwky’s pre-seed round was made under the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme and was fully subscribed by City of London investment professionals. The announcement does not name individual backers or institutional firms.
SEIS participation typically indicates investment from high-net-worth individuals and angels seeking tax-efficient exposure to early-stage startups. For Skwky, the close points to local investor confidence in the team and in a proposition that frames AI as a safety-first intervention for educational settings.
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Founder perspective
In the announcement, Jai Twyman, co-founder at Skwky, said:
SKWKY AI is a tool that is focused on two things – safety and support for young people in conflict
In the announcement, Chris Twyman, co-founder at Skwky, said:
Educators are nervous of implementing AI in the classroom, for obvious reasons. SKWKY is building a tool that starts with safeguarding the users and their data
Chris Twyman is a known figure in edtech, having created and exited BoomWriter, a global edtech writing platform. That background frames Skwky’s route to market and explains the early focus on schools and educators.
The bigger picture
Skwky’s raise sits at the intersection of two trends: the rapid adoption of generative and conversational AI across sectors, and growing concern about how those systems are deployed around children. Regulators, schools and parent groups are increasingly insistent on transparency, privacy and measurable safeguarding outcomes from commercial AI tools aimed at young people.
The company’s SEIS-backed pre-seed round and City of London participation reflects a broader interest from AI investors in safe-by-design educational tools. Whether Skwky can translate its concept into verifiable classroom impact will depend on independent evaluations, clear data governance, and the willingness of schools to pilot an automated mediator.
This deal is another small indicator of how UK capital and talent continue to cluster around applied AI startups that promise rule-based safety features and educator-facing workflows, even as the sector awaits clearer regulatory guidance at UK and European levels.
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