BioCatch closes $30 million funding round to support growth plan as behavioral biometrics race begins

Mar 12, 2018, 10:49 am EDT | Chris Burt

Categories Behavioral Biometrics | Biometrics News

BioCatch has closed a $30 million financing round to fund its growth plan and support its vision to redefine digital identity and provide trust for online interactions, the company has announced.

The funding round was led by Maverick Ventures, with participation from American Express Ventures, NexStar Partners, Kreos Capital, CreditEase, OurCrowd, JANVEST Capital, and other existing investors.

“BioCatch helps to answer the question, ‘who are you’ in an online world where fraudsters operate with the legitimate credentials of others, making it very hard to distinguish them from authorized users,” said Howard Edelstein, BioCatch Chief Executive Officer. “We take pride in the track record we have amassed and the role that we play as an integral part of our clients’ identity strategy. This strategy cuts across the digital ecosystem, from stopping fraud in real-time to preventing fake accounts from being opened in the first place, all while enabling a seamless user experience.”

Edelstein was recently appointed BioCatch CEO, though he has served as chairman of the company’s board of directors since 2016. He told TechCrunch that a race has developed in the behavioral biometrics market over the last 24 months, as awareness of the technology increases, and that BioCatch raised the funds to pursue markets beyond the banks it has focused on so far, such as insurance, cryptocurrency, P2P payments, healthcare, and government organizations. The company, which was founded in 2011, will also invest in its product portfolio, and is working on fraud detection technology that detects characteristics of fraud in the entry of data during the signup process.

BioCatch says it monitors over 5 billion transactions per month, proactively collecting and analyzing more than 2,000 parameters to generate user profiles and model different genuine and malicious behaviours. It has more than 56 patents granted or pending, according to the announcement.

“BioCatch has made its mark as behavioral biometrics emerges as a key component in driving authentication and fraud strategies today. Their technology helps minimize friction for the end user, working passively in the background, eliminating the trade-off that has been made to date between security and the user experience,” said Julie Conroy, Research Director of Aite Group’s Retail Banking & Payments Practice.