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Tech startup taking the fight to dark web fraudsters closes £3m funding round

London-based tech startup Ravelin has announced it has closed a new £3m investment as it looks to add to its growing client base of global ecommerce firms.

The fraud detection firm, which is already utilised by the likes of Deliveroo and EasyTaxi, has attracted investment from existing investors Playfair Capital along with participation from Amadeus Capital, Passion Capital, the founder of Wonga Errol Damelin and Indeed head honcho Paul Foster.

It comes after a booming first nine months in business where Ravelin have grown their revenue by over 600%, and attracted some high-profile names in the world of ecommerce.

Utilising machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms, the Holborn business helps businesses combat fraudulent payments by providing every user with an associated fraud probability score based on their actions and behavioural signals.

Speaking to Bdaily following the funding announcement, Ravelin Chief Executive Martin Sweeney emphasised the scale of the fraud problem currently faced by merchants, consumers and banks.

“Fraud is growing faster than ecommerce as a whole,” explains Martin. “Last year it was $16bn globally and in the UK it’s one of the largest forms of crime overall.

“Because nobody robs houses anymore, nobody breaks into cars and steals radios because that’s a mug’s game. What you want to be doing is something where there is zero repercussions and online crime is now that world.”

In particular, the easy availability of fraudulent credit cards on the dark web, which Martin says anyone can get a hold of, if they were so inclined, for ‘single figure dollars’ is fuelling the rapid rise in online fraud.

He adds: “[T]here is a full ecosystem of people on the darkweb providing those very professional services and lowering the barriers to entry so anyone can commit fraud.

“If you were so inclined you could go and do it yourself, and it would be very easy and no one would ever catch you or care that you did it.”

The problem is only exacerbated by the sluggishness of the big banks, in particular issuing companies such as Visa and Mastercard, who can sometimes take up to ten years to implement new fraud protections - protections which Martin guarantees will be out of date ‘in 6 months not just 10 years’.

Clearly in such a world of cheap and easily available dodgy credit cards and sluggish banks, the opportunities for a startup such as Ravelin are obvious, and its future growth looks assured as the problem is only set to get worse.

The focus now is on growing the team, in particular its intelligence team of data scientists, industry experts and analysts, as well as its engineering team of traditional software developers and coders.

However, as Martin explains, the firm’s overall aspirations are even greater with a vision to become a ‘significant player’ in the UK tech scene.

“What we’re doing here is very cutting edge in terms of the machine learning and artifical intelligence algorithms that we’re producing here.

“We’re able to process large amounts of data and get really fantastic results. We’ll be the number 1 go in terms of all payments and fraud protection within 2 years, that’s our goal.

“It’s safe to say our ambition is significant,” he concludes.