Semafone delivers cloud, hybrid and on-premises solutions that prevent personally identifiable information (PII) from entering business IT infrastructure, enabling secure, compliant omnichannel customer interactions. Its patented data capture methods collect payment and sensitive customer data directly from customers across phone, webchat, social, email, SMS and QR codes. The company highlights integrations with over 30 Payment Service Providers and holds leading security and payment certifications such as ISO 27001 and PCI DSS Level 1. Semafone supports customers in 26 countries on five continents and serves notable clients including BT Group, British Sky Broadcasting, and Sutter Health. Management says the business will use new capital to invest in its solutions portfolio, accelerate go-to-market efforts, and drive global expansion amid rising demand for consumer data protection. The company cites a total addressable market of £1.4bn and increasing regulatory pressure (PCI DSS v4.0, GDPR, HIPAA) as growth tailwinds. Semafone offers fraud‑prevention software that anonymises sensitive credit and debit card details as customers key them in during telephone transactions and routes those details directly to banks, bypassing the call centre. The solution lets call‑centre agents continue a live dialogue to reduce abandonment and improve customer experience versus fully automated options. The company was founded in 2009 and is led by CEO Tim Critchley. Semafone employs a team of 38 and reports turnover of circa £5m. Its software is used by customers including Sky, Virgin Holidays, TalkTalk, Aviva Canada and Capita. In October 2013 Semafone signed a partnership with BT to become part of BT’s call‑centre technology offering. The company intends to use the new funds to expand in overseas markets. Semafone is a London-based company that provides fraud-prevention software for use in call centres. Founded in 2009 by a consortium of call centre professionals, it secures sensitive data passed over the phone, including bank details, personal identification data and credit/debit card transactions. Its product lets customers input card details via the telephone keypad without interrupting caller and agent dialogue, eliminating the need to read out card numbers and security codes and reducing operator fraud. Customers include John Lewis Partnership, Argos, Specsavers and the Manchester Airports Group. The company raised £1.9m in funding from funds managed by Octopus Ventures. The capital is intended to accelerate growth in the UK and abroad by expanding sales and marketing efforts.

Total raised

$9M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Oct 2014