Insights

Facing the (Equi)Fax about Fraud: Friday Dealbook

01/15/2021

By: Liminal Team

2021 is off to a fast start for investments by players in spaces impacted by COVID-19, headlined by Equifax’s splashy acquisition of Kount for $640 million late last week. Notably, this move perpetuates a 2020 trend of fraud prevention and risk management platforms steadily increasing investments in large datasets to boost their fraud signals' efficacy - including, ProveEmailageIDAnalyticsForter, among others. 

Similarly, funding rounds for Blend ($300 million Series G) and JumpCloud ($100 million Series E) demonstrate investor appetite for COVID-19-enabled digital transformation, particularly in helping lay the groundwork for platform growth: whether that be enriching alternative data analysis for financial services, for enabling remote work, or (more broadly) responding to a greater need for identity and data management.

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Top Deals
Kount
kount.com
2007

Provider of AI-driven fraud detection and prevention platform. The company specializes in preventing digital payments fraud, new account fraud, preventing account takeovers and protecting against charge backs.

 

The company reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by Equifax (NYS: EFX) for $640 million on January 8, 2021. This acquisition will expand the Equifax worldwide footprint in digital identity and fraud prevention solutions. The company is being actively tracked by PitchBook.

Blend
blend.com
2012

Developer of a digital lending platform designed to simplify and fasten consumer finance processes. The company's platform uses machine-learning technology and uses verified source data to build a consumer's complete financial profile, automates third-party verification to reduce frauds, identifies delay-causing issues and manages the tasks needed to close a loan, enabling financial institutions to process lending faster, increase productivity and deliver better customer experiences.

 

The company raised $300 million of Series G venture funding in a deal led by Tiger Global Management and Coatue Management on January 13, 2021, putting the company's pre-money valuation at $3 billion. Other undisclosed investors also participated in the round. The company will use the funding to fuel its next phase of growth and support investment in the products and services that matter most to financial institutions as it aims to power the future of consumer banking.

JumpCloud

Developer of a Directory-as-a-Service (DaaS) platform intended to centralize and simplify identity management. The company's cloud-based platform handles the critical elements of server management security, including user management, administration activity monitoring and configuration assessment, enabling IT teams to securely manage user identities and connect them to resources they need regardless of provider, protocol, vendor or location.

 

The company raised $100 million through a combination of Series E and Series E-1 venture funding in a deal led by Blackrock Innovation Capital Group on January 12, 2021, putting the company's pre-money valuation at $650 million. General Atlantic, H.I.G. Growth Partners and other undisclosed investors also participated in the round. The funds will be used to expand product development, marketing and sales globally and hire additional people over the next several years.

Investor Highlights
Qumra Capital

Qumra Capital is a venture capital firm that focuses on investment in Israeli late-stage companies. It seeks to invest on highly analytical, data-driven companies which scale to global leadership in their domain and invest in rapidly growing companies with a proven market fit. The firm was founded in 2012 and is based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

 

Active Portfolio - 14

Investments (TTM) - 5

Med. Round Amount - $33.79M

Med. Valuation - $310.00M

# of Exits - 7

 

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