Financial fraud detection startup AdvaRisk raises $700,000 seed funding

Financial fraud detection startup AdvaRisk has raised $700,000 in a seed funding round from Bangalore-based early-stage investors Sprout Venture Partners and SEA Fund along with other angel investors.

Mumbai-based AdvaRisk will use the funds to fine-tune its product offerings as well as to ramp up activities in the sales and business development divisions, the company said in a statement last week.

Founded in 2016 by Vishal Sharma and Rahul Metkar, AdvaRisk is focused on developing an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven automated platform enabled with investigating, detecting and recovering options for frauds in corporate loan portfolios of financial institutions.

“There is a strong need for their products in the financial system considering the rise in NPAs over the last decade and the archaic processes adopted for recovering the same. The company also addresses fundamental needs of FIs to improve underwriting measures and to actively monitor portfolio for early identification and minimising future distress,” said Sahil Gupta, managing partner, Sprout Venture Partners.

The funding round also saw participation from Varadarajan Srinivasan, former deputy managing director, Axis Bank and Sharad Bhatia, former managing director of private equity firm Multiples Alternate Asset Management.

“The need of the hour is an effective and proactive credit monitoring solution for preventing frauds that plague our financial system and adversely affect our economy. We at AdvaRisk are developing solutions that enable lenders to prevent future frauds and maximise recovery from NPAs,” said Sharma, co-founder, AdvaRisk.

Recent deals in the sector:

• Chennai-based financial technology and digital lending company Hotfoot Technology Solutions raised $250,000 in a funding round from a group of angel investors.
• Bengaluru-based fintech startup Groww raised $21.4 million in its Series B funding round, led by Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Ribbit Capital.
• Accounting application provider OkCredit raised $67 million in a Series B funding round led by existing investors Tiger Global and Lightspeed India Partners.