Madrid-based cybersecurity firm buguroo has secured $11 million in Series A funding to bring its Deep Learning based online fraud detection and prevention technology, combining behavioral biometrics, malware detection and device assessment, to more financial services customers.
Cybersecurity-focused venture capital firm Ten Eleven Ventures (headquartered in Silicon Valley, California) and Spain- and Latin America- focused venture capital firm Seaya Ventures (headquartered in Madrid, Spain) led the Series A round. Existing investors Inveready Technology Investment Group and Conexo Ventures also participated.
Currently, buguroo technology protects over 50 million financial services customers in Europe and Latin America from login to logout. With the new Series A investment, the company will expand its sales and marketing efforts in these regions as well as in new geographies, with particular focus on the US, UK, France and Germany.
The funding will also be used to accelerate new product developments, including buguroo’s “Fraudster Hunter.” This pioneering functionality, which was recently incorporated into buguroo’s anti-fraud solution, identifies and tracks the behavioral patterns of fraudsters and their collaborators, using Deep Learning to discover victims who are unaware they have been affected by fraud, reveal fraud scenarios and recognize fraudsters’ modus operandi. This unique capability ensures that financial services companies can stay one step ahead of fraudulent digital activity.
From login to logout, buguroo’s technology protects financial services customers from all known fraud use cases, including the increasing problem of synthetic fraud, when hackers set up new accounts using fake identities in the onboarding phase. By collecting thousands of parameters relating to the customer’s behavioral biometrics and environment, including smartphone and mouse movements, keystrokes, device profiling, and geolocation and malware records, buguroo is able to create a unique “cyber profile” for each user – a digital DNA – that stops fraudsters from impersonating financial services customers online and manipulating accounts.
With online banking fraud proliferating, identifying and stopping fraudulent activity without impacting the user experience is crucial for financial institutions worldwide.
“With focused, regional investment in sales and marketing, we have proven the power of our solution. We are thrilled to have the support of our new investors, who are enabling us to continue to bring this best-in-class solution to banks around the globe and accelerate our mission of continuous innovation in online fraud detection,” said Pablo de la Riva, Founder and CEO of buguroo.
Ten Eleven Ventures Managing Partner Alex Doll commented, “Ten Eleven Ventures is pleased to back another exciting new team using artificial intelligence to transform cybersecurity. Pablo and the buguroo team are talented innovators who have found a unique way to use AI to reduce online fraud. We are so impressed with the customer traction they have in Europe and Latin America. We look forward to helping them build a global cybersecurity company.”
Aris Xenofontos from Seaya Ventures commented, “We are very excited to have the opportunity to join Pablo and the team in their journey to help any kind of organisation prevent digital fraud and become the world’s largest database of fraudster digital identities. We are looking forward to supporting them using our experience with high-growth international businesses.”
Inveready Managing Partner Ignacio Fonts commented: “We are so impressed with buguroo’s achievements so far. This great performance allowed us to choose among top VCs, and we decided to go with Ten Eleven Ventures, best in cybersecurity. We look forward to keep helping Pablo and buguroo’s team to build a global cybersecurity company.”
Conexo’s Managing Partner Joaquim Hierro Lopes commented: “We are very proud of buguroo’s performance, testimony to the skills, passion and relentless dedication by CEO Pablo de la Riva and his team. We are as well delighted to have Ten Eleven Ventures and Seaya joining in this journey; they are the perfect companions to further expand buguroo’s international success.”
About buguroo
buguroo was founded in Madrid in 2015 to develop cybersecurity and disruptive anti-fraud solutions, always keeping abreast of the latest market trends. Today, buguroo is the mastermind behind the most comprehensive solution for online fraud prevention known as bugFraud. Thanks to this product, banks across the globe protect their customers in real-time from all the online fraud use cases. https://www/buguroo.com
About Ten Eleven Ventures
Ten Eleven Ventures is the original venture capital firm focused solely on investing in digital security. The firm invests globally and at all stages, from seed to growth (the latter via its Joint Investment Alliance with KKR). Since its founding in 2015, Ten Eleven Ventures has raised nearly $500M and invested in nineteen leading cybersecurity companies including Twistlock, Verodin, Cylance, KnowBe4, Darktrace, and Ping Identity. For more information, visit https://www.1011vc.com.
About Seaya Ventures
Based in Madrid, Seaya Ventures has been backing the best entrepreneurs and teams from Spain and Latin America since 2013. Seaya focuses on supporting founders in scaling their businesses enabling them to become global leaders.https://seayaventures.com/
About Inveready
Inveready is a leading asset manager in Spain investing in early-stage technology-based companies. Inveready invest through 4 verticals Venture Capital in Digital Technology, Venture Capital in Life Sciences, Venture Debt and Hybrid Financing for quoted companies in growth markets) with +€330M of assets under management. With 21 successful exits on their back, some of their portfolio companies are quoted in the IBEX 35, NASDAQ and MAB while others got acquired by companies such as Intel, Symantec and Red Hat. It is part of their DNA to empower disruptive innovators, helping them grow and succeed over the past 11 years. As a consequence of this growth and track record they are proud recipients of several awards such as Best Venture Capital Manager in Spain, Best VC Transaction and Best Venture Debt Transaction. https://inveready.com/