A Former Detective’s Startup Is Valued at Nearly $400 Million. It Still Hasn’t Shown Its Product
A new artificial intelligence company founded by a former British police detective has attracted major Silicon Valley investors despite operating in complete stealth and keeping its technology under wraps.
London-based 22one was created by Steven Richardson, a former detective chief superintendent with Merseyside Police. The startup is reportedly valued at close to $400 million and has received backing from prominent venture capital firms, including Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, Lux Capital, and Creandum. The company has not disclosed how much funding it has raised.
22one is expected to focus on artificial intelligence tools designed for law enforcement. Its goal is to help police departments automate administrative work and improve the way officers manage investigations, documents, and other operational tasks.
Richardson has extensive experience in both policing and technology. He left Merseyside Police in 2021 after serving in senior investigative roles. He later worked at Amazon Web Services, where he focused on the company’s relationship with UK policing organizations, and at Palantir, a data analytics firm whose software is used by law enforcement agencies.
He also co-founded Riven, a company that developed artificial intelligence systems capable of locating and redacting sensitive information in police documents. Riven was acquired by NEC Software Solutions in 2024, and its technology has since been adopted by almost half of the police forces in the United Kingdom.
That background may give 22one an advantage as it attempts to sell AI systems in a sector where trust, security, and regulatory compliance are particularly important. However, the company will still need to demonstrate that its technology can deliver practical benefits without creating new risks.
The UK government is already encouraging police forces to explore artificial intelligence. In June, it launched PoliceAI, a national initiative intended to develop, test, and expand AI applications across all 43 police forces in England and Wales. The program has been allocated £75 million over three years.
Supporters believe automation could reduce paperwork and free officers to spend more time on investigations and frontline duties. That public investment could also create a significant market for companies developing specialized police technology.
Yet the use of AI in policing remains controversial. Civil liberties groups have warned that opaque systems could make decisions difficult to challenge and weaken public oversight. There are also concerns that software trained on historical police data may reproduce or amplify existing patterns of discrimination.
Any system developed for law enforcement will therefore face intense scrutiny over privacy, bias, accuracy, and accountability. Police departments may be interested in faster and more efficient workflows, but they are unlikely to adopt experimental tools without clear evidence that the systems are reliable and legally defensible.
For now, 22one’s valuation reflects investor confidence in its leadership and in the expanding market for government AI services—not a publicly demonstrated product. Until the startup reveals what it is building, questions will remain over whether its technology can match the expectations created by its funding and valuation.
