We're proud to have been selected for a competitive FCA cohort, a real vote of confidence in Welleness's innovative approach to financial advice.
Welleness has been accepted onto the Financial Conduct Authority's Supercharged Sandbox.
If you're new to Welleness, here's the short version: we're building the operating system for female financial advice. That means an AI guidance agent, Elle, a dynamic financial health score, and a network of regulated female advisers, all working together to make financial advice accessible for working women who've been left out of it for too long.
The advice gap in the UK is stark. Most people who'd benefit from financial advice never get it, and women are consistently the ones left behind. Our own data backs this up: only 15% of the women we've spoken to have ever had a conversation with an independent financial adviser.
That's the gap Welleness exists to close.
The FCA's Supercharged Sandbox gives a small cohort of companies working at the frontier of financial services direct, structured access to the regulator while they build. It's not a rubber stamp, it's a chance to test rigorously, with support, before going fully live.
We'll use it to stress-test Elle's guidance across a much wider range of financial scenarios than our current user base allows, and to build robust evidence for how her guidance hands off safely to regulated advice. That evidence base will run in parallel with our own progress toward Appointed Representative status, and continue strengthening the model as the cohort runs through to December.
With the FCA signalling a shift toward more active, collaborative supervision of AI in financial services, we see this as a chance to help shape how AI-driven guidance gets regulated, rather than adapt to a framework built without input from firms like ours.
It's worth putting this in context. This cohort received 199 applications, a 51% jump from the first round, with only 21 organisations selected. We're proud to be one of them, and to sit alongside firms like Scottish Widows and TrueLayer in a group the FCA has chosen to help shape how AI is used safely across financial services.
"We're delighted to be accepted into a really competitive cohort, alongside a mix of business types all at the forefront of AI and financial services. We're looking forward to the extensive mentor network and support on offer, particularly around regulation and governance," said Lucy Smith, co-founder and CEO of Welleness.
Welleness was founded in November 2025 by Lucy Smith, Lucy Wayment, and Ben Barton. We're currently raising a £600,000 pre-seed round to accelerate our path to full regulatory status, and to reach more women who've been left out of financial advice for too long.
Regulation isn't an afterthought for us, bolted on at the end. It's part of how we're designing the whole ecosystem from day one. Women deserve financial advice built on trust.
This is a real step toward that. More to come as we build in the open.
This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. For guidance specific to your situation, speak to a regulated financial adviser.
Our free financial health check takes less than five minutes and gives you a clear picture across six areas of your financial life, then Elle helps you do something about it.
If Welleness didn’t exist I’d have done absolutely nothing. It’s made me feel like I should just ask the questions and get myself into a better position.
We want more women talking openly and honestly about money, and this is a good place to start. Once a month we'll send you one practical thing you can actually do, plus a real story from a woman in a similar spot to you. It's the money conversation you wish you'd had sooner. Trusted by hundreds of women like you.
Unsubscribe any time. We take your privacy seriously.