Withers tech advises on $20M Series C investment round in fraud business Ravelin

Withers tech were the legal representatives for Draper Esprit, a European VC fund, on the Series C funding round for fraud detection business Ravelin which resulted in a $20m investment.

Withers tech client Draper Esprit were the lead investors in the $20m Series C funding round with participation from Amadeus Capital Partners, BlackFin Tech, and Passion Capital.

Iain Cockburn, Partner at Withers tech told The AI Journal why they were well suited to advise Draper Esprit on this investment opportunity by saying: “Later-stage VC financings have always been at the core of our practice and it has been a pleasure to work again with Draper Esprit in putting together this Series C round. In the current environment, it was important to be able to act quickly and work closely both with the company’s legal team and the various other stakeholders in the business, to finalise the deal, and our many years of experience as one of the only legal teams exclusively focused on the venture capital industry really helped us to execute this deal.”

Ravelin, the company that received the $20m investment, develops machine learning tools to help online businesses identify fraudulent customers and transactions with the aim to optimise customer payment processes by enabling fraud detection.

The fraud detection company uses their clients data to analyse trends through machine learning which highlights areas of risk and as a result reduce losses to fraud while improving acceptance rates of online orders and payments.

Due to COVID-19, businesses have adapted to working remotely, doing business via video calls, and taking payments through online portals which has increased the risk of fraudulent opportunities and increased the level of fraudulent activity.

As a result, companies that work within cyber security, fraud detection, and fraud payments have given greater testament to their business value with investors taking positions in the opportunities available with examples being Vesta securing $125m for payment fraud AI and Dathena raising $12m to expand AI data security.

Withers tech explained that they have worked with Draper Esprit for ‘many years’ and aim to provide a bespoke advisory service to all their investors and founders in the innovation economy to support them in their VC funding rounds.

The VC advisory company explained that Draper Esprit had been looking at the invisible layer behind financial services with fraud detection and prevention being one of the core pillars of the thesis they have developed and looked at taking an investment position in.

“This is another investment for Draper Esprit, with every analysis pointing to ever-increasing waves of online fraud. It was a pleasure to work with Vinoth and the team at Draper Esprit again as they continue to grow their portfolio of world-class technology companies,” added Cockburn.

This is not the first time Draper Esprit have invested in the fraud and payments market with the investment expanding their current portfolio within this market and financial supporting system companies.

Withers tech said that analysis overwhelmingly points to ever-increasing levels of online fraud with a number of commentators believing that the COVID-19 pandemic will exacerbate this in various ways.

Ravelin’s growth gives an indication of how in high demand and essential cybersecurity fraud prevention services are becoming with Withers tech predicting this will only increase further as peoples personal and business dealings increasingly move online.

The Withers tech team was led by partner Iain Cockburn, working with associates Ben Williams, Velyana Borisova, and Yancho Yanchev who together advised Draper Esprit on their Ravelin Series C investment.