Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and with the ensuing sanctions on the latter, fintech firms have been particularly under pressure to bar accounts that have been flagged.
Seon, a United Kingdom-based security and compliance startup has raised the sum of $94 million in funding as it looks to deepen its role in helping its fintech clients wade off activities from sanctioned Russian individuals or companies. As reported by CNBC, the funding round was led by IVP, a Silicon-Valley venture capital firm known to back the likes of social media giant Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR), and movie streaming and production platform, Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX).
Other participants in the Seon funding round include existing backers such as Creandum, PortfoLion, and a number of angel investors including Emilie Choi, the Chief Operating Officer of Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ: COIN), and UiPath CEO, Daniel Dines.
The new capital injection will be deployed into a number of targeted areas including the development of new software to help its broad number of clients including Revolut and Afterpay to detect transactions from Russians that have been placed on a sanction list by any regulator.
The software from Seon analyzes customers’ email addresses, phone numbers, and other relevant details to build a “digital footprint,” of the client.
With its advanced Artificial Intelligence, the data will now be used to predict whether the client is genuine or not. Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and with the ensuing sanctions on the latter, fintech firms have been particularly under pressure to bar accounts that have been flagged. With Seon’s new solution, compliance with laid down sanctions will now be easier.
With such tools, identifying whether someone is “just creating shell companies to launder money,” or “as a fake identity to hide their assets,” will become easier according to Tamas Kadar, Seon’s co-founder, and CEO. Seon has “prioritized this feature to be added in the next quarter,” he added.
Seon to Use Its New Funding Power Its Global Presence
The startup was founded in Hungary by Kadar and Bence Jendruszak and while the startup has moved its headquarters to the UK, it still pushes for a global presence in other regions including North America, Asia, and South America. The latest capital injection will particularly be used to build its presence in the United States.
The company opened an office in Austin Texas and Jakarta Indonesia back in 2021. The establishment in the US has become necessary as the Seon believes the US has a lot of digital fraud cases that can present a good market base for its solutions. The startup’s strides are showcased in its growth track in no small measure.
Besides tripling its revenue in 2021, its customer base has grown from 100 to about 250 at the moment, all of whom are powered by more than 200 staff. In its bid to advance its global footprint, Seon said it will be increasing its workforce by about 100% within the next year.
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