Ashima Chopra

Dr Ashima Chopra founded Datambit in London in 2023 and is its chief executive. The company builds AI tools that detect deepfakes in audio and video, including during live calls. According to Datambit, Chopra has three decades of international experience in technology and innovation research, including digital banking work for Open Banking and supervising more than 140 master’s projects in AI and digital technologies at UK universities.

A product tested by government

Datambit’s platform, Shield, analyzes video for frame-level inconsistencies and audio for voice cloning and synthetic speech, then labels a file real or fake with a confidence score and a report that shows its reasoning. Datambit says it was one of 18 finalists in a Home Office deepfake detection challenge in July 2024 and the only UK company covering both audio and video. It says its model scored an F1 of 0.99 for audio and 0.96 for video in that testing, a measure that combines precision and recall.

The company also took part in the City of London AI Innovation Challenge, working with Nationwide and Mastercard, and was featured in the Financial Conduct Authority’s AI Innovation Spotlight 2025.

Defense and security recognition

In 2026 Datambit joined the NATO DIANA accelerator, one of 150 companies chosen from 3,680 applicants across the alliance, as part of its Estonian cohort, which focuses on maritime operations and data-assisted decision-making. In June it was one of five finalists in the first Infosecurity Europe Cyber Startup competition.

Chopra has also contributed to deepfake research at the Alan Turing Institute’s Centre for Emerging Technology and Security. Sam Stockwell, lead author of its report, credited her with “suggesting technical recommendations for combatting deepfake threats during elections”, according to Datambit.

Why it matters to UK buyers

Voice and video impersonation targets controls that finance teams rely on: a call-back to a known voice or a video check with a new customer. A tool that flags synthetic media during a live call gives banks, insurers and corporate finance teams a check at the point of decision rather than after the money has moved. Datambit’s work with Nationwide and Mastercard and its place in the FCA spotlight put it close to UK financial services, where that risk is most direct.

Chopra has taken Datambit from founding to government testing, a NATO accelerator and an international startup final in three years, building the credentials that banking and defense buyers look for before they buy.