Fintech company Heka secures $14 million funding to offer real-time identity scrutiny solutions for financial organizations.
Heka, a cutting-edge AI-driven fraud detection and identity intelligence platform, is making waves in the financial sector. Founded by industry veterans, including a former Global Head of Equity Trading at Merrill Lynch, a senior officer in the Israeli intelligence community, and a fintech and high-tech lawyer, Heka is designed to combat synthetic fraud and identity manipulation.
The platform leverages publicly available web data to build dynamic and detailed digital profiles of customers, going beyond traditional static data such as credit bureau records. This approach allows Heka to identify synthetic or manipulated identities in real-time, helping financial institutions detect and prevent fraudulent activities more accurately and quickly.
At the heart of Heka's technology is an AI engine inspired by intelligence community tradecraft. This analyst-grade agent processes vast volumes of public web data to generate structured outputs including fraud indicators, alias detection, reputational exposure, behavioral anomalies, updated contact information, and contextual risk signals. This approach allows Heka to detect fraudulent activities that conventional tools like credit scoring and velocity models tend to miss.
Heka's technology has proven effective. In a deployment with a global payment processor, its AI engine reportedly caught 65% of account takeover losses without inconveniencing legitimate users, demonstrating its ability to reduce fraud losses while maintaining smooth customer experiences.
The company's recent $14 million Series A funding, led by Windare Ventures with participation from Barclays and other investors, will accelerate Heka's U.S. expansion and deepen its footprint across the UK and Europe. The broader Heka team includes intel analysts, data scientists, and domain experts in fraud, credit, and compliance.
Clients use Heka's intelligence for critical decisions such as fraud mitigation, account management, and recovery. Heka's mission, as stated by its Co-founder and CEO Idan Bar-Dov, is to be the default source of truth for the new digital reality. Kester Keating, Head of US Principal Investments at Barclays, echoes this sentiment, stating that Heka's offering addresses a critical need in financial services.
In summary, Heka helps financial institutions combat synthetic fraud and identity manipulation by applying AI to web data to create live, actionable digital identity intelligence, enabling faster and more precise fraud detection than legacy systems. With its powerful AI engine and deep roots in the intelligence community, Heka is poised to revolutionize the fight against consumer fraud, which reached $12.5 billion last year, marking a 38% year-over-year increase.
- The intelligence gathered by Heka's AI engine, beyond traditional static data, can help businesses in the finance sector achieve compliance with regulatory requirements by effectively identifying synthetic or manipulated identities, thereby reducing the risk of financial losses due to fraudulent activities.
- Leveraging artificial-intelligence technology, Heka not only improves business operations in the financial sector by providing real-time fraud detection but also contributes to the advancement of technology in the broader field, as demonstrated by its recent Series A funding and strategic partnerships with industry leaders like Barclays.
