Singapore financial crime AI start-up gets $40m
Singapore’s Silent Eight, a compliance and financial crime risk investigation platform, has raised a USD 40m Series B round led by US-based TYH Ventures.
Wavemaker Partners, Hong Kong family office Aglaia, Standard Chartered Bank's SC Ventures, and Kho Boon Hwee, chairman and general partner of Altara Ventures, also participated. They were joined by HSBC Ventures, one of Silent Eight’s latest clients, and OTB Ventures, a Poland-based VC firm that focuses on global start-ups with talent and technology from Central Europe.
The investment is said to represent a 4x increase in valuation since October 2020, when OTB led a USD 15m Series A. Silent Eight, which maintains offices in Poland, the US, and the UK, claims that revenue has grown 4x and headcount has tripled during that period. HSBC and TYH will both nominate board members as part of the round. Total funding to date comes to USD 55m.
Silent Eight’s artificial intelligence service (AI) investigates suspicious transactions, beneficiaries, and customers in real-time for financial institutions with a view to reducing risks associated with money laundering and terrorist financing. The company estimates that USD 2trn is laundered annually and only 1% of money used for laundering and terrorist financing is currently being stopped.
The technology can scan multiple data sources (structured, semi-structured, and unstructured) in variable formats, including online news articles and databases from reputable sources. Silent Eight claims it is a core tenet of its service to build on financial institutions’ existing knowledge to guarantee that AI is proprietary and tailored according to their policies and best practices.
The Series B funding will be used for a technology buildout and to hire around 150 data scientists, developers and engineers with the year. “Historic performance has been strong and the future revenue growth projections are even stronger. This is a business that’s poised to scale,” Kolya Miller, a managing partner at TYH who will join the Silent Eight board, said in a statement.
More on Southeast Asia
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.