Fraud detection startup Featurespace lands $32.3 million to accelerate international expansion and product development

Featurespace, a provider of Adaptive Behavioral Analytics for fraud detection and risk management startup, has closed $32.3 million (£25 million) from a funding round to support international expansion and continued development of the company’s software capabilities. The round was led by Insight Venture Partners and MissionOG, with participation from existing investors including IP Group plc, Highland Europe, TTV Capital, Robert Sansom and Invoke Capital. The investment will also be used to support the continued distribution of Featurespace’s real-time ARIC platform.

Founded in 2008 Bill Fitzgerald and David Excell, Featurespace is the world-leader in Adaptive Behavioural Analytics and creator of the ARIC platform, a machine learning software system developed out of the University of Cambridge. The ARIC platform uses anomaly detection to analyse complex behavioural data in real time, spotting anomalies to block new fraud attacks as they occur. ARIC reduces the number of genuine transactions incorrectly identified as fraud by over 70%, enabling businesses to accept more revenue. Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, and Atlanta, GA, U.S. Featurespace’s ARIC platform is used by organizations in over 180 countries. Featurespace’s customers include Betfair, Vocalink/Zapp, Worldpay, and TSYS, the largest third-party processor of Visa and MasterCard® credit cards in the U.S.

Commenting on the fundind, Martina King, Featurespace CEO, said:”We have made tremendous progress over the last 15 months since our last fund raising – and this fund raise is the largest to date. The additional funds will enable us to continue rapidly growing the business internationally by focusing on our products, our people and our customers.”

“Working very closely with our customers, we have developed a market-leading product to meet their fraud detection and prevention requirements. We have also significantly strengthened our senior management team and operational infrastructure, and opened an office in Atlanta, Georgia.”

“We have also grown our financial services customer base and now are working with 17 banks across continental Europe, the U.K., U.S. and Latin America. Equally important, we have become the technology partner of choice to a number of payment processors and merchant acquirers that have embedded our real-time fraud prevention technology in their anti-fraud solutions.”

Insight Venture Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight currently has over $20 billion of assets under management and has cumulatively invested in more than 300 companies worldwide.

“We have been following Featurespace’s growth for over two years. Following extensive customer and product due diligence, we were delighted with market feedback around the product and team. We welcome Featurespace into our portfolio and look forward to helping the company drive international growth,”  said Jeff Horing, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Insight Venture Partners.

“Martina King, David Excell and team have built a dynamic culture that has led to a well-defined and successful market focus. Their efforts are evidenced by strong sales momentum with notable clients in various segments, including multinational banks, payments companies, issuer processors and merchant acquirers. We’re excited to partner with Featurespace and introduce our network and platform to continue to drive value and growth,” said Gene Lockhart, Chairman and Managing Partner at MissionOG.