Starling Bank's Anne Boden wants to compete with Anthropic for talent at new AI fintech
It has been over three years since Anne Boden stepped down as CEO of Starling Bank, the digital banking unicorn most recently valued at £4bn ($5.4bn). After an extended period of absence, she now looks to be back in the startup game and has some lofty hiring aspirations.
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Boden said in a LinkedIn post earlier today that she's hiring for a "MoonShot" project and wants to hire people who are deciding between "making your fortune at Anthropic, or launching your own AI start-up." Boden describes the new venture as "engineering led" and "well paid with equity."
It's another fintech, rather than a new AI lab. Boden said that the company will be "right at the start of the next revolution in banking technology," and ideally wants people with three years of banking tech experience. Speaking at a conference in June, Boden said that banks will be "opening bank accounts to agents" rather than individuals, and that app-based banks will be a thing of the past. Her new project may have something to do with that.
Boden has been working on AI quietly since 2023, when she renamed one of her companies 'AI by Boden.' In micro-accounts for 2025 released on Companies House, the entity had just 3 employees. She did not respond to a request for comment on whether this new initative will be an expansion of that entity or whether it will be a new, standalone project.
Starling Bank has been pushing heavily into AI as well, launching an agentic money manager in March. It has also used AI to cut jobs; The Guardian reported in July that the bank was cutting 130 roles, but Starling said it was "continuing to hire tech and AI engineers."
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