Featurespace develops machine learning-based fraud and financial crime prevention technology for banks and payment service providers. The company is building privacy-preserving AI solutions that allow models to be trained on sensitive data without organisations sharing raw data. It will apply federated deep learning and privacy-enhancing techniques such as k-anonymity and local differential privacy to detect financial crime while protecting data privacy. Featurespace was awarded PETs Challenge Prize funding from UK and US government-backed programmes to build a prototype for privacy-preserving fraud detection. The PETs scheme was launched by Innovate UK and the US National Science Foundation and the project is backed by SWIFT. Featurespace has until 24 January to build its AI prototype, which if successful will be showcased at the US Summit for Democracy. Featurespace is a provider of Adaptive Behavioral Analytics and the ARIC platform, a real-time machine learning system that risk-scores events to prevent fraud and financial crime. ARIC uses explainable anomaly detection to identify suspicious activity and catch new fraud attacks in real time. The platform scores events in more than 180 countries and is deployed by over 30 major global financial institutions, including four of the five largest banks in the UK. Publicly announced customers include HSBC, TSYS, Worldpay, RBS NatWest Group, Contis, Danske Bank, ClearBank, Permanent TSB and Betfair. The company emphasizes its machine learning models’ ability to automatically adapt to shifts in consumer, business and criminal behavior. Featurespace intends to use new funding to support continued growth and to further develop its fraud and anti-money laundering solutions. Featurespace develops the ARIC™ real-time AI machine-learning platform that uses adaptive behavioral analytics and anomaly detection to risk-score transactions and other events. The platform is deployed in more than 180 countries and the company says it can reduce genuine transaction declines by as much as 70%. Customers include 17 banks across continental Europe, the U.K., the U.S. and Latin America, and several payment processors and merchant acquirers have embedded ARIC in their solutions. Featurespace was created out of Cambridge University’s Engineering Department and is led by CEO Martina King with CTO Dave Excell as a co-founder. The company has offices in Cambridge, London and Atlanta and says it has strengthened its senior management and operational infrastructure. Management plans to use new funding to accelerate international expansion and continue developing and distributing its software capabilities. Featurespace develops ARIC™, a real-time machine-learning platform that monitors individual behaviours and detects anomalies to identify risk and catch new fraud attacks. Developed out of the University of Cambridge and led by CEO Martina King, the company serves financial services and gaming organizations. Its products and services are deployed in over 180 countries and customers include TSYS, Playtech, Betfair, Vocalink Zapp, CashFlows, Camelot and William Hill. The company cites the fraud detection and prevention market was worth $14.23bn in September 2017 and is growing at roughly 20% per annum. Featurespace says it will use the funds to support international expansion and continued development of its software capabilities. Worldpay has also formed a commercial partnership to licence Featurespace’s behavioural analytics for merchant risk management and fraud prevention use cases. Featurespace provides a machine-learning behaviour analytics platform (ARIC) that models normal individual behaviour and detects anomalies in real time. The technology uses Bayesian statistics and is based on research at the University of Cambridge by the late Professor Bill Fitzgerald and Featurespace CTO David Excell. Led by CEO Martina King, the company serves customers across financial services and gaming, including Vocalink/Zapp, CallCredit, KPMG, Betfair, William Hill and Camelot. Featurespace focuses on real-time decisioning, monitoring each customer one at a time to deliver tailored fraud detection. The company intends to use recent funding to expand its operations in the UK and the US and to grow its presence in financial services. Financial metrics such as revenue or user counts were not disclosed in the article.

Total raised

$108M

Funding rounds

7

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

May 2020