Cleo

A London-founded AI money assistant that chats to you about your spending. Headquartered in London with offices in New York and San Francisco; a large share of customers are now in the US.

About Cleo

Cleo is an AI money assistant. You chat to it in an app and it helps you understand where your money goes, plan, budget and tackle debt. It has a cheeky tone that many young people like. Its latest version, Cleo 3.0 from July 2025, added voice conversations and tools such as Debt Reset and Money IQ.

It was founded in January 2016 by Barney Hussey-Yeo, a former data scientist with a master's degree in machine learning, who began by building it from a London flat. Cleo says it is "here to change the world's relationship with money". Its headquarters is in London, with offices in New York and San Francisco, and it entered the US market in March 2018. It says it has over 500 people.

Cleo reports its numbers in British pounds, publishes a UK gender pay gap report and lists the UK as a core market. Be aware that a large part of its customer base is now in the US, so the UK team is only one part of the business.

For young people, Cleo shows how a London start-up can use AI to build a consumer app. We did not find a published UK graduate scheme, so check its careers page.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Ask questions about spending and budgeting.', 'title': 'AI money chat'}
• {'desc': 'A tool to tackle debt.', 'title': 'Debt Reset'}
• {'desc': 'Plain-English money insights.', 'title': 'Money IQ'}
• {'desc': 'A first step towards automatic money management.', 'title': 'Autopilot'}

Key facts

• Founded: January 2016 in London by Barney Hussey-Yeo
• Headquarters: London (Finsbury Square); offices in New York and San Francisco
• Mission wording: to change the world's relationship with money
• Entered the US in March 2018

Website: web.meetcleo.com