Online verification platform Thirdfort has raised £15m in a Series A funding round led by Breega and Element Ventures, with the founders of ComplyAdvantage, Tessian, Fenergo, R3, Funding Circle and Fidel also investing.
The London-based startup has built a platform to provide ID verification and tackle money laundering payment fraud, which has been a major problem in the capital.
The company was founded after co-founders Olly Thornton-Berry and Jack Bidgood’s friend lost £25,000 to a fraudster who had secretly accessed data regarding the purchase of a flat.
Thirdfort’s business-focused risk engine platform allows clients to comply with pre-existing anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and uses data for ‘know your customer’ checks.
The company said approximately 700 businesses are already using its platform, with the majority operating in the legal and property markets.
Thirdfort also has a consumer-focused service, in the form of an app for customers of those businesses.
The app uses open banking technology to connect businesses with customers’ banks for secure financial transactions.
The situation in Russia has exacerbated existing concerns and criticisms of businesses failing to comply with anti-money laundering regulations and customer protection.
And for CEO Olly Thornton-Berry, “now, what’s required is a lot more”.
He added: “They need to run an in-depth level of due diligence, seeing bank statements [to determine] what is moving in and out, asking clients specific questions, diligence checks on gifted money if the sum is specified as a gift. It’s a whole new kind of workflow that’s come into existence with AML going up.”
Thirdfort will be using the latest round of funding to continue expanding its services, with a key aim to build payment infrastructure directly into its platform.
“For both consumers and professional services, the risk of fraud and the need for compliance represents a massive burden,” said Maxence Drummond from Breega.
“Consumers need to get verified for every transaction, and regulated professionals spend too much of their valuable time on client verification and compliance.”
Thirdfort previously raised £1m in a seed investment back in August 2020.
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