ECB Selects AI Startup Feedzai for Digital Euro Fraud Prevention

Feedzai raises $75M at $2B valuation, secures key role in digital euro fraud prevention - SiliconANGLE

Feedzai raises $75M at $2B valuation, secures key role in digital euro fraud prevention Fraud and financial crime prevention platform company Feedzai Inc. revealed today that it has raised $75 million in new funding on a valuation of more than $2 billion. The company also said it has signed a framework agreement with the European Central Bank to provide the central fraud detection and prevention mechanism for the digital euro. Founded in 2011, Feedzai offers an artificial intelligence-native platform for financial crime prevention that combines machine learning, big data and real-time analytics to monitor and score transactions, user behavior and identity signals across a financial institution's services. Feedzai's platform ingests data from various sources such as transaction logs, behavioral analytics, device metadata and third-party feeds and then processes them in milliseconds to identify anomalous patterns that may signal fraud, money laundering or other illicit activity. The platform then assigns risk or fraud scores, advises decisions -- approve, reject or challenge -- and helps automate orchestration of investigations and responses. The company's platform supports integration with banks' internal systems and external application programming interfaces to centralize multiple risk, compliance and fraud tools under a unified framework. Feedzai service also covers the full lifecycle of financial crime risk, from account opening and identity checks through transaction monitoring and alerting to anti-money-laundering compliance and case management. The new funding comes as Feedzai has seen rapid growth, doubling outcomes to more than $2 billion in losses prevented and more than 20 million in analyst-hours saved. The company says it protects more than 1 billion customers worldwide, processes 70 billion events per year and secures $8 trillion in payments annually. The new funding came from Lince Capital, Iberis Capital and Explorer Investments and previous investors Oxy Capital and Buenavista Equity Partners. "Protecting people and organizations from financial crime is why we built Feedzai," said co-founder and Chief Executive Nuno Sebastião. "This new investment round enables us to continue driving innovation to defend against whatever comes next, so that every form of payment, even those yet to be imagined, can be trusted and adopted safely." Alongside the new funding, Feedzai signed a framework agreement with the ECB that makes it a "first-ranked tenderer" to provide the central fraud detection and prevention mechanism for the digital euro. The framework agreement for the risk and fraud management component has an estimated value of €79.1 million ($92.82 million) and a maximum value of €237.3 million ($278.47 million). The agreement would, should it proceed, see Feedzai deliver a state-of-the-art central fraud detection and prevention mechanism to the ECB, ensuring full compliance with EU security, privacy and data protection standards, in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. The framework agreement isn't a final commitment, however, but sets the terms for potential future work. The actual development of the components - or certain parts of them - will be decided at a later stage. Following the framework agreement conclusion, Feedzai and other successful tenderers will work with the ECB to finalize planning and timelines. Under the guidance of the ECB Governing Council and in line with EU legislation, this work will cover the design, integration and development of the Digital Euro Service Platform. "Being selected as the first-ranked tenderer in the framework agreement to secure the digital euro is both an honor and a responsibility," said Sebastião. "With tens of billions of transactions expected across the eurozone, success depends on AI that can adapt as quickly as fraud evolves. Our role is to provide the intelligence that keeps even the most sophisticated fraud out, ensuring trust in every digital euro transaction from day one."

ECB turns to AI startup for fraud detection for digital euro

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community. The selection of Feedzai is one of five tenders awarded by the ECB in connection with the planned launch of the digital euro. The central bank digital currency (CBDC) project was launched in 2021 and the launch is believed to be close. The awarding of the tenders heralds the launch of the project's second phase of preparation, according to the ECB. At the heart of this second phase is the framework agreement struck with vendors for the risk and fraud management component, which has an estimated value between €79.1 and €273m. Feedzai will work alongside subcontractor PwC to deliver a fraud detection and prevention service in line with the EU's data protection, security and privacy standards, according to a statement. Feedzai's platform is designed to provide a fraud risk score for every transaction, enabling payment service providers to combine the data with its own before deciding whether or not to approve payments. "Being selected as the first-ranked tenderer in the framework agreement to secure the digital euro is both an honor and a responsibility," said Nuno Sebastiao, CEO and co-founder of Feedzai. "With tens of billions of transactions expected across the eurozone, success depends on AI that can adapt as quickly as fraud evolves. Our role is to provide the intelligence that keeps even the most sophisticated fraud out, ensuring trust in every digital euro transaction from day one." Another vendor selected by the ECB is Germany-based Giesecke+Devrient, who will work alongside Nexi and Capgemini on the development and implementation of an offline solution to work alongisde the digital euro.

ECB picks AI startup to prevent digital euro frauds

The contract with Feedzai, worth up to 237.3 million euros ($278.69 million), is one of several announced by the ECB on Thursday to advance a project that it sees as key for the euro zone's financial autonomy from the United States. The European Central Bank said on Thursday it had picked a Portuguese startup focussed on artificial intelligence to help prevent frauds in its planned digital euro currency. The contract with Feedzai, worth up to 237.3 million euros ($278.69 million), is one of several announced by the ECB on Thursday to advance a project that it sees as key for the euro zone's financial autonomy from the United States. Under it, Feedzai and its subcontractor PwC will provide an AI model for scoring digital euro payments by their fraud risk, based on any deviation from a customer's typical behaviour, interactions and history. This is aimed at helping payment service providers decide whether to approve a transaction in digital euros, essentially an exchange between electronic wallets backed by the central bank. The four-year agreement has an estimated value of 79.1 million euros and a cap at 237.3 million euros. Four further digital euro contracts worth between 27.6 million euros and 220.7 million euros were awarded to other companies, including to French IT consulting firm Capgemini. Under such framework agreements, the ECB won't pay "a penny until the project actually starts", board member Piero Cipollone said last month. The central bank is still awaiting legislative approval for its digital euro, which it has pitched as a response to Visa and Mastercard's dominance and to U.S. President Donald Trump's promotion of stablecoins pegged to the dollar. It hopes to receive the go-ahead around the middle of next year, with a view to launching the digital currency in 2029. Registered in Coimbra, Portugal, Feedzai says it processes $8 trillion worth of payments every year for clients including Portuguese bank Novobanco and Abu Dhabi's Wio Bank.

ECB picks AI startup to prevent digital euro frauds

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -The European Central Bank said on Thursday it had picked a Portuguese startup focussed on artificial intelligence to help prevent frauds in its planned digital euro currency. The contract with Feedzai, worth up to 237.3 million euros ($278.69 million), is one of several announced by the ECB on Thursday to advance a project that it sees as key for the euro zone's financial autonomy from the United States. Under it, Feedzai and its subcontractor PwC will provide an AI model for scoring digital euro payments by their fraud risk, based on any deviation from a customer's typical behaviour, interactions and history. This is aimed at helping payment service providers decide whether to approve a transaction in digital euros, essentially an exchange between electronic wallets backed by the central bank. The four-year agreement has an estimated value of 79.1 million euros and a cap at 237.3 million euros. Four further digital euro contracts worth between 27.6 million euros and 220.7 million euros were awarded to other companies, including to French IT consulting firm Capgemini. Under such framework agreements, the ECB won't pay "a penny until the project actually starts", board member Piero Cipollone said last month. The central bank is still awaiting legislative approval for its digital euro, which it has pitched as a response to Visa and Mastercard's dominance and to U.S. President Donald Trump's promotion of stablecoins pegged to the dollar. It hopes to receive the go-ahead around the middle of next year, with a view to launching the digital currency in 2029. Registered in Coimbra, Portugal, Feedzai says it processes $8 trillion worth of payments every year for clients including Portuguese bank Novobanco and Abu Dhabi's Wio Bank. (Reporting By Francesco CanepaEditing by Tomasz Janowski)