The global coronavirus pandemic has accelerated digitization among banks, opening up new channels for servicing customers. It has also meant that many more millions of people are working from home. Both developments have been seized on by fraudsters, with fraud rates jumping around the world. A recent report shows a 66% increase in scams in the first six months of this year, compared with the final half of 2019.
In this context, NetGuardians has raised CHF 17 million in new capital to meet the rising demand for its fraud-mitigation software. The Y-Parc start-up will do this by strengthening its position in existing markets and further developing its software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscription model. Lead investors include the Pictet Group, a NetGuardians client, as well as private investment group ACE & Company.
The latest fundraising comes just weeks after NetGuardians was included in Gartner’s 2020 Market Guide for Online Fraud Detection, Forrester’s Enterprise Fraud Management in Asia Pacific Report and in the Chartis RiskTech 100 2021 list.
Beating fraud with smarter AI
Founded in 2007 and heaquartered in Yverdon-les-Bains, canton of Vaud, NetGuardians helps financial institutions fight fraud in over 30 countries. More than 60 banks, including UOB and Pictet & Cie, rely on NetGuardians’ smarter artificial-intelligence (AI) solution to prevent fraudulent payments in real time. NetGuardians is the fraud-prevention partner of major banking software companies, including Finastra, Avaloq, Mambu, and Finacle. The company also has offices Singapore, Kenya, and Poland, and employs about 90 people.
