Fraud prevention company SEON has acquired compliance and anti-money laundering (AML) company Complytron to bolster its AML capabilities.
Following the acquisition, SEON can offer a combined offering of fraud, AML and data enrichment solutions.
The deal, officially completed in January 2023, is another step in SEON’s expansion plans since its $94million Series B investment in early 2022. It believes the acquisition sends a strong signal to its customers as well as partners that it will “continue enhancing” its product to combat evolving threats.
“Our goal at SEON has always been to deliver the best solutions to our customers,” says Tamas Kadar, co-founder and CEO of SEON. “Rather than building an AML solution from the ground up, it made perfect sense for us to acquire Complytron’s extensive and innovative algorithms and worldwide databases – as well as the expertise of its talented team.
“By completing this acquisition, we have increased our total addressable market by approximately $6billion. This means we are instantly able to solve the challenges of risk and compliance management for even more businesses. In today’s landscape, having this 360° view of individuals and business partners isn’t an option, it’s a regulatory must.”
Tackling money laundering
According to SEON, the deal is in direct response to an urgent demand for robust AML solutions. Last year saw AML fines rise by 50 per cent. With SEON’s existing anti-fraud APIs, the new AML functionality, creates a “powerful united platform”.
This platform will monitor financial transactions in real-time to detect signs of fraud and money laundering. It enables onboarding checks to run silently in the background, minimising false positives and improving the experience of genuine transactors.
It will also combine intelligence from multiple sources, including international sanctions and crime lists, a global Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) database, and watch lists of more than 100 supervisory authorities and national law enforcement.
As part of the deal, SEON acquires full rights to Complytron’s technologies, as well as the company’s staff, including its dedicated AML team. Notably, Complytron’s co-founder and CEO, Oliver Lebhardt, will join SEON along with co-founder and UX lead, Abris Gryllus.
Lebhardt, product manager of AML at SEON said: “This acquisition represents a major step in the battle to reduce FinCrime and will help sectors such as fintech, online lending, gaming, neobanking, ecommerce and travel, to prevent criminal activity via their platforms.”
Meanwhile, SEON says it is now perfectly positioned for further growth in 2023, including its ventures into the US and bolstering its 300 strong team growth.
