Thirdfort secures $20M in Series A funding as AML business scales

London-based biometric KYC and AML startup Thirdfort has secured £15 million (US$20 million) in a Series A funding round led by Breega with participation from Element Ventures and the founders of ComplyAdvantage, Tessian, Fenergo, R3, Funding Circle, and Fidel.

Thirdfort made the announcement in a company blog post written by Managing Director and Co-founder Olly Thornton-Berry.

“With recent events bringing into sharp focus the importance of spotting and preventing money laundering and other fraud, I sympathize with professionals who are trying to protect their businesses and clients while facing a tidal wave of increasing regulation and fraud risk,” the executive writes.

The funding round represents the first institutional investment for Thirdfort. The company has grown from ten staff and 30 clients  in January, 2020 to a team of 100 with 700 clients.

According to Thornton-Berry, client ID verification, source of funds confirmation, and client funds transfer requests still mainly rely on ineffective and paper-based processes, which are often exploited by fraudsters and money launderers.

“We’re building the first platform for businesses to use on both individuals and corporate clients that encompasses KYC (know your client) and AML (anti-money laundering), Source of Funds, and secure payments – all powered by best-in-class tech, Open Banking, and our own proprietary risk engine.”

From a technical standpoint, the company uses facial authentication with document scanning and open banking to streamline identity and source of funds checks carried out by lawyers.

At the time of writing, Thirdfort’s mobile app has been downloaded by more than 500,000 individuals in the UK.

“For so many businesses to trust us to be the first point of engagement with their clients is a huge privilege,” Thornton-Berry writes.

“We’ll continue to raise the bar on delivering a beautifully secure experience for clients of our business users – many of whom we know are going through some of life’s biggest moments, such as purchasing a property, settling a probate matter, or getting a mortgage.”

The Thirdfort compliance platform was first launched in September 2021, and the company raised $1.3 million seed-plus funding just over a year and a half ago.

Article Topics

AML  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  face biometrics  |  facial authentication  |  fraud prevention  |  funding  |  identity verification  |  investment  |  KYC  |  Thirdfort