Latest news with #KesterKeating
Business Wire
06-08-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Capitolis Announces Strategic Investments from Barclays, BNP Paribas, and J.P. Morgan, Alongside Existing VC Investors Canapi Ventures, 9Yards Capital, and Greenfield Partners
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Capitolis, the financial technology company, today announced additional strategic investments from leading global banks and venture capital firms. New bank investors Barclays and BNP Paribas join J.P. Morgan, an existing Capitolis investor, as well as Citi, Morgan Stanley, State Street, and UBS—all of which previously invested in this round. As part of this, venture capital firms Canapi Ventures, 9Yards Capital, and Greenfield Partners—investors in Capitolis' Series D in 2022 —have also increased their investments in the company. These new investments mark the close of this round of funding, bringing the total raised to $56 million. Capitolis continues to experience strong business momentum and expansion, and the company will use these additional funds to accelerate that growth within each of its Capital Marketplace and Portfolio Optimization businesses. Viewed as a strategic partner to the financial industry, Capitolis works side by side with the world's leading banks and financial institutions to help solve their core optimization needs. 'We are thrilled for the continued support from strategic global banks, and we are excited to welcome Barclays and BNP on board and have J.P. Morgan reaffirm their commitment to Capitolis. It is also exciting to see a strong vote of confidence from our VC investors who participated in our Series D round and are strengthening their support even further,' said Gil Mandelzis, CEO and Founder, Capitolis. 'These investments will help us further accelerate our growth and expansion in the capital markets as we continue our strong business momentum.' 'We're pleased to support the ongoing development of innovative products by Capitolis, and this investment further cements the collaboration between our firms,' said Kester Keating, Head of US Principal Investments at Barclays. 'We're excited to support the growth of Capitolis and collaborate with its strong leadership team in developing innovative solutions that enable us to better serve our clients,' said Junaid Baig, Head of Strategic Investments, BNP Paribas. 'Capitolis continues to demonstrate innovation within financial markets and we are pleased to support them,' said Matthew Franklin-Lyons, Global Head of Rates Trading, J.P. Morgan. 'Capitolis is a great company, becoming greater with exciting products and strong leadership,' said Gene Ludwig, Managing Partner, Canapi. 'On behalf of my partners at Canapi, we are pleased to be a financial supporter of this exceptional company and management team.' "Capitolis is an N-of-1 company building critical infrastructure for the capital markets industry,' said Theo Osborne, Managing Partner, 9Yards Capital. 'We are very excited to continue backing Gil and the team's vision to bring great efficiency to the backbone of our global economies." 'Capitolis continues to deliver solutions that make capital markets safer and more efficient,' said Shay Grinfeld, Managing Partner, Greenfield Partners. 'We are thrilled to see what Gil and team have been able to accomplish to date and look forward to continuing to support Capitolis on its journey.' To learn more about Capitolis, visit About Capitolis We believe the financial markets can and should work for everyone. Capitolis is the technology company helping to create safer and more vibrant financial markets by unlocking capital constraints and enabling greater access to more diversified capital and investment opportunities. Rooted in advanced technology and deep financial expertise, Capitolis powers groundbreaking financial solutions that drive growth for global and regional banks – and institutional investors alike. Capitolis is backed by world class venture capital firms, including Canapi Ventures, 9Yards Capital, SVB Capital, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, and S Capital, as well as leading global banks such as Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citi, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered, State Street and UBS. Founded in 2017, our team brings decades of experience in launching successful startups, technology, and financial services. Capitolis was recognized on the Inc. 2024 Best in Business list in the Financial Services and Innovation & Technology categories, and named World's Best FX Software Provider for the second straight year in the 2024 Euromoney Foreign Exchange Awards. The company has been included on CNBC's World's Top Fintech Companies lists for the past three years, Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 list in consecutive years and was named to Fast Company's prestigious annual list of The World's Most Innovative Companies for 2023. American Banker recognized Capitolis among the Best Places to Work in Fintech, and the company was named by Crain's New York Business as one of New York's Best Places to Work in 2024 for the third consecutive year. For more information, please visit our website at or follow us on LinkedIn.
Business Insider
15-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Heka Raises $14M to bring Real-Time Identity Intelligence to Financial Institutions
Windare Ventures, Barclays, and other institutional investors back Heka's AI engine as financial institutions seek stronger defenses against synthetic fraud and identity manipulation. Consumer fraud is at an all-time high. Last year, losses hit $12.5 billion – a 38% jump year-over-year. The rise is fueled by burner behavior, synthetic profiles, and AI-generated content. But the tools meant to stop it, from credit bureau data to velocity models, miss what's happening online. Heka was built to close that gap. Inspired by the tradecraft of the intelligence community, Heka analyzes publicly available web data to help financial institutions actually understand their customer – beyond what static files can show. Its proprietary AI engine assembles digital profiles that surface alias use, reputational exposure, and behavioral anomalies. This helps financial institutions detect synthetic activity, connect with real customers, and act faster with confidence. At the core of Heka's web intelligence engine is an analyst-grade AI agent. Unlike legacy tools that rely on static files, scores, or blacklists, Heka's AI processes large volumes of web data to produce structured outputs like fraud indicators, updated contact details, and contextual risk signals. In one recent deployment with a global payment processor, Heka's AI engine caught 65% of account takeover losses without disrupting healthy user activity. According to the company, Heka's technology is already embedded in the workflows of leading banks, payment processors, and pension funds. Clients use Heka's intelligence to support critical decisions from fraud mitigation to account management and recovery. The $14 million Series A round, led by Windare Ventures with participation by Barclays, Cornèr Banca, and other institutional investors, will accelerate Heka's U.S. expansion and deepen its footprint across the UK and Europe. 'Heka's offering stood out for its ability to address a critical need in financial services – helping institutions make faster, smarter decisions using trustworthy external data. We're proud to support their continued growth as they scale in the U.S.,' said Kester Keating, Head of US Principal Investments at Barclays. Ori Ashkenazi, Managing Partner at Windare Ventures, added: 'Identity isn't a fixed file anymore. It's a stream of behavior. Heka does what most AI can't: it actually works in the wild, delivering signals banks can use seamlessly in workflows.' Heka was founded by Rafael Berber, former Global Head of Equity Trading at Merrill Lynch; Ishay Horowitz, a senior officer in the Israeli intelligence community; and Idan Bar-Dov, a fintech and high-tech lawyer. The broader team includes intel analysts, data scientists, and domain experts in fraud, credit, and compliance. 'The credit bureaus were built for another era. Today, both consumers and risk live online. Heka's mission is to be the default source of truth for this new digital reality – always-on, accurate, and explainable,' said Idan Bar-Dov, the Co-founder and CEO of Heka. Heka delivers web intelligence to financial services. Its AI engine is used by banks, payment processors, and pension funds to fill critical blind spots in fraud mitigation, credit-decision, and account recovery. The company was founded in 2021 and is headquartered in New York and Tel Aviv. Photographer Credit: Verbitskaya Raisa Contact VP Marketing Joy Phua Katsovich
