Sardine AI raises $70m in Series C—Can it outpace financial crime with compliance automation tools?

Sardine, a leading AI risk platform specializing in fraud detection technology and compliance automation tools, has secured $70 million in Series C funding, bringing its total capital raised to $145 million. The investment round was led by Activant Capital, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures, Moody’s Analytics, and Experian Ventures. As financial fraud becomes increasingly sophisticated, Sardine is scaling its AI-powered risk platform to help businesses combat fraud, automate compliance processes, and enhance regulatory oversight.

Sardine has built one of the most extensive fraud detection networks in the industry, with more than 2.2 billion devices profiled and over 300 enterprise clients across 70 countries. Companies such as FIS, Deel, GoDaddy, and X rely on Sardine’s AI-driven risk management tools to prevent financial crime and streamline compliance operations. By integrating behavioral biometrics, machine learning, and device intelligence, Sardine provides financial institutions with a robust fraud detection system that improves accuracy while reducing operational costs.

What Led to Sardine’s Rapid Growth in the AI Risk Management Space?

Sardine’s journey to becoming a leader in AI-driven fraud prevention and compliance automation was fueled by its Series A and Series B funding rounds, which helped the company expand its product offerings and accelerate technological advancements.

In February 2022, Sardine raised $19.5 million in Series A funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz and NYCA, with support from Experian Ventures. This funding enabled the company to enhance its fraud detection technology, develop compliance automation tools, and introduce its Instant ACH Transfer solution. This groundbreaking feature eliminated the traditional 3-7 day waiting period for ACH payments by enabling real-time fraud checks, allowing fintech and crypto firms to move money instantly while mitigating fraud risks. At this stage, Sardine’s solutions gained traction with fintech companies, neobanks, and cryptocurrency platforms, attracting clients such as Brex, Chipper Cash, FTX, Luno, and MoonPay.

By September 2022, Sardine secured $51.5 million in Series B funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz’s Growth Fund, with investments from Google Ventures, Activant Capital, Visa, and NAventures. This funding helped Sardine scale its AI risk platform, refine its fraud detection models, and integrate real-time transaction monitoring for crypto payments and high-risk financial transactions. Sardine also expanded its AI-powered KYC and AML solutions, allowing fintech firms to onboard customers faster while reducing compliance-related risks.

The latest Series C funding allows Sardine to build on this foundation, further advancing AI-driven fraud detection and compliance automation for financial institutions. With the growing complexity of financial crime, Sardine aims to equip businesses with cutting-edge AI solutions that reduce fraud losses, improve operational efficiency, and ensure compliance with regulatory frameworks.

Why Is AI Essential for Fraud Prevention and Compliance?

The rise of AI-driven financial crime has placed enormous pressure on risk and compliance teams. In 2023, global fraud losses surpassed $1 trillion, driven by deepfake technology, synthetic identities, and large-scale social engineering scams. Financial institutions are struggling to keep up with increasingly sophisticated fraud tactics, and legacy fraud prevention systems are failing to provide adequate protection.

Sardine’s AI-powered fraud detection technology offers a scalable solution to these challenges. By leveraging real-time behavioral analytics, machine learning models, and device intelligence, Sardine helps financial institutions detect fraudulent activities with greater accuracy. According to CEO Soups Ranjan, fraud alerts have surged by 800% year-over-year, overwhelming risk teams and slowing down financial transactions. Sardine’s AI agents automate repetitive but critical fraud detection tasks, allowing analysts to focus on real threats while reducing false positives that can lead to unnecessary account restrictions.

With AI-driven compliance automation tools, Sardine also streamlines regulatory oversight by processing vast amounts of financial data in real time. This enables businesses to meet evolving compliance requirements while minimizing operational inefficiencies. Financial institutions can now detect fraud, verify identities, and process high-risk transactions faster and with fewer errors.

How Does Sardine’s AI Risk Platform Improve Fraud Detection?

Traditional fraud prevention methods rely on rule-based systems that generate excessive false positives, requiring manual intervention for transaction reviews. Sardine’s AI risk platform addresses these inefficiencies by analyzing real-time behavioral patterns, transaction histories, and network intelligence to detect fraud with higher precision.

One of the most significant challenges in fraud detection is handling KYC mismatches, where minor discrepancies—such as name variations across cultures or inconsistent date formats—can lead to delays in onboarding or unnecessary rejections. Sardine’s AI-powered KYC agent automates identity verification, allowing businesses to onboard legitimate customers without manual intervention while maintaining compliance with regulatory standards.

Sardine’s compliance automation tools also enhance AML transaction monitoring by detecting suspicious activities and identifying high-risk individuals. With AI-driven analytics, the system can flag accounts linked to money laundering, financial fraud, or other illicit activities, ensuring that financial institutions remain compliant with regulatory mandates. By integrating AI into fraud detection workflows, Sardine enables financial institutions to proactively prevent fraudulent transactions rather than simply reacting to them.

What Are the Real-World Benefits of Sardine’s AI-Driven Fraud Prevention?

Sardine’s AI risk platform has delivered measurable improvements for financial institutions, reducing fraud-related losses while enhancing operational efficiency. A global bank that integrated Sardine’s fraud detection system reported a 42% reduction in wire fraud, significantly improving security for high-value transactions. A commercial neobank reduced dispute volumes by 93.75%, leading to a 70% decrease in chargeback losses. A cross-border payments provider improved its fraud detection accuracy from 15% to 70%, cutting manual review times by 85%.

GoDaddy Payments has leveraged Sardine’s AI-powered fraud detection tools to consolidate its risk management systems and streamline compliance workflows. By reducing its reliance on engineering teams, GoDaddy shortened rule deployment timelines from days to hours and expanded its risk assessment capabilities beyond fraud detection into credit risk evaluation. According to Arjun Ramakrishnan, Head of Risk at GoDaddy Payments, Sardine’s platform has transformed the company’s fraud prevention processes by increasing accuracy, reducing false positives, and improving decision-making speed.

What’s Next for Sardine?

With $70 million in new funding, Sardine is focused on advancing its AI-driven fraud prevention technology and compliance automation solutions. The company plans to expand its global presence, refine its AI models, and enhance real-time fraud detection capabilities for financial institutions. Sardine is also developing new AI-driven solutions that address emerging threats in the fintech and digital payments sectors.

As digital transactions continue to grow, fraudsters are using AI to conduct increasingly sophisticated attacks. Sardine’s AI risk platform is designed to stay ahead of these threats, ensuring that financial institutions can detect fraud before it impacts their business. By integrating AI-driven fraud prevention with compliance automation, Sardine is reshaping the future of risk management, helping businesses safeguard transactions while maintaining regulatory compliance.

Sardine’s latest funding round positions the company as a leader in AI-powered fraud detection, providing financial institutions with the tools they need to combat modern financial crime. With its innovative approach to fraud prevention and compliance automation, Sardine is set to redefine how businesses secure digital transactions in an era of real-time payments and AI-driven cyber threats.