EverCompliant, an Israel-based cyberintelligence company, announced on Wednesday (Dec. 14) that it had raised $9.5 million in a new round of venture capital funding, reported Reuters. The funding round was reportedly led by Arbor Ventures and included existing investors Carmel Ventures, StarFarm Ventures and Nyca Partners.
EverCompliant’s main focus is to detect and prevent what it calls “transaction laundering,” the digital space’s equivalent of money laundering. Transaction laundering allows prohibited merchants to find safe passage into the payment system by exploiting valid merchant accounts.
Ron Teicher, CEO of EverCompliant, was quoted as saying: “As eCommerce has evolved, money laundering has morphed into a new digital form. Most concerning is that transaction laundering is occurring right under the noses of regulators worldwide.”
While transaction laundering is not a new problem, its significance and prevalence have grown in recent years. The ever-increasing pace of cybercrime continues to make it harder for merchants, acquirers and others to keep up. Additionally, the shift to EMV in 2015 has pushed fraud online. Digital fraud grew 33 percent year over year since EMV launched.
EverCompliant said that it has already identified nearly 2 million unregistered merchants in the United States. It also said that the payment industry at large is often unaware of merchant-based fraud as it happens.
EverCompliant plans to use the new funds to grow its current research and development operations, expand its reach in the U.S. and Europe, as well as open a new office in Asia in 2017.