Financial crime detection firm ComplyAdvantage has announced the close of a US$50m Series C funding round, which will power its expansion across the United States, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.
The Series C round was led by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers’), one of the world’s largest pension plans with C$207.4 billion in net assets, through its Teachers’ Innovation Platform (TIP), which focuses on late-stage venture and growth equity investments in companies that use disruptive technology.
Existing ComplyAdvantage investors Index Ventures and Balderton Capital also participated in the round which brings the total investment in the firm to US$88m.
“Ontario Teachers’ deep experience and credibility with global financial institutions made them a natural choice to lead the round,” said Charles Delingpole, Founder and CEO of ComplyAdvantage.
“Ontario Teachers’ takes a long view of investing that is genuinely aligned with our own vision at ComplyAdvantage to transform how companies mitigate risk. This funding allows us to accelerate the development of our industry-leading data and suite of products to serve institutions with diverse clients and complex risk exposure.”
The firm uses machine learning and natural language processing to help regulated organizations manage their risk obligations and prevent financial crime. It uses a database derived from millions of data points that provide real-time insights across sanctions, watchlists, politically exposed persons, and negative news.
The company claims the technology reduces dependence on manual review processes and legacy databases by up to 80% and improves how companies screen and monitor clients and transactions.
“ComplyAdvantage offers mission-critical technology solutions for combating financial crime and keeping pace with an ever-evolving regulatory landscape,” said Olivia Steedman, Senior Managing Director, TIP, at Ontario Teachers’.
“The company is well positioned to continue its rapid growth as its powerful technology platform transforms the compliance and risk management process for its clients.”
“Detecting financial crime in billions of transactions that take place around the globe has become nearly impossible without the application of data science and machine learning. It is this approach that has made ComplyAdvantage into a leader in the category, and the go-to partner for organizations who seek to automate what are still very often manual or inadequate processes,” said Jan Hammer, Partner at Index Ventures.