Regtech startup Shield closed a $15 million Series A funding round on January 13. The round was led by Macquarie Capital and OurCrowd with participation from Mindset Ventures. The Tel Aviv-based company plans to beef up its U.S. presence with an office in New York City, while continuing to expand throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, Shield said in a news release.
Regulated financial institutions use Shield’s employee communication platform to detect market abuse, gain behavioral analysis, mitigate toxic workplace culture and automate monitoring over an array employee communication channels. Shield’s platform applies AI, natural language processing and other advanced technology throughout the entire communications lifecycle.
“The ability to access and understand new and evolving communication channels is increasingly becoming a pain point for organizations, no matter the industry, and this funding round is well-timed as it will empower us to scale our technology and enhance our already robust platform that addresses compliance concerns that enterprises deal with daily,” Shield Co-Founder and CEO Shiran Weitzman said in a news release. “As a bootstrapped company, we’ve already proven that our AI platform is unquestionably valuable to banks and financial institutions. Now, with the help of our highly regarded investors, we’re ready to further build out our technology, expand our global sales and customer success teams, and enhance our already impressive ability to discover and manage compliance and risk concerns across electronic communications.”
The capital infusion and further development of Shield’s offerings come at a time when the industry is actively seeking cloud-based solutions, which Shield says is evidenced by its recent signing of a Tier One global bank as a client.
“Compliance, legal and surveillance professionals in top-tier banks and across financial service firms have incorporated the Shield platform, finding inherent value in our eDiscovery, case management, investigations, contextual surveillance and archiving solutions,” Shield Co-Founder and CTO Ofir Shabtai said in a news release. “From the time they implement our dynamic platform, our customers are seeing the benefits and immediate ROI.”
The past two years have seen a sharp rise in financial crime compliance cost, nearly $50 billion in 2021 alone, which Shield and its investors say further cements the need for the company’s platform.
“In order to support hybrid working, better manage changing compliance and regulatory requirements and the need to be cloud native Shield has adopted a new architectural approach to software development. Shield’s leading edged software platform, agile development philosophy and ability to rapidly implement its solution to deliver more immediate benefits to customers positions Shield to be a new market leader” said David Standen, co-head of the venture capital group at Macquarie Capital. “We are excited to be the lead investor and support the aspirations of the very talented team at Shield.”
