Flare Systems, a Montréal-based dark-net intelligence platform focused on helping financial institutions prevent cyber-crimes, has raised $1 million in a seed-stage financing. The round was led by Luge Capital, a Canadian fintech venture capital firm. Also participating was White Star Capital. Founded in 2017, Flare Systems will use the round’s proceeds to expand its roll-out in Canada and the United States, and further develop its suite of products. Luge last year raised an initial $75 million for its inaugural fund.
PRESS RELEASE
Cybercrime FinTech, Flare Systems, Raises $1M, Led by Luge Capital
Flare Systems Enables Financial Institutions to Protect Themselves from Financial Crimes Before They Happen
Montréal, October 17, 2019 – Flare Systems has closed a $1 million seed round led by Luge Capital, with WhiteStar Capital participating in the round. The investment enables Flare Systems to expand its roll-out in Canada and the USA, and further develop a complementary suite of products to help financial institutions fight financial crime.
A cyber attack occurs every 39 seconds and the frequency and sophistication of these attacks are increasing. Flare Systems automatically collects and structures millions of data points from the dark, deep and clear net to provide actionable intelligence in real time, enabling financial institutions to mitigate these attacks and prevent financial crimes.
Flare Systems’ products take data from sources such as broadcasts of stolen information, private forum discussions, chat posts, and cryptocurrency transactions and combine it with world-class proven research in criminology to provide actionable insights to financial crime teams. With Flare Systems’ proprietary platform, financial institutions can efficiently monitor malicious actors and their activities across numerous threat landscapes and connect the chains of attack, from phishing to laundering funds through illicit and fraudulent activities.
Flare Systems, which recently completed the Centech, NextAI and Desjardins Startup in Residence programs, was founded by a team with deep experience in cybersecurity, software development and big data. Before launching Flare Systems, Co-founder and CEO Mathieu Lavoie managed a security penetration team at a major Canadian financial institution and learned, first-hand, the challenges faced by financial institutions. David Hétu, Co-founder and Chief Research Officer, has been researching and analyzing cybercriminal activities for the last ten years. With a PhD in Criminology, he focuses on identifying patterns of communication among malicious actors and the attributes of key threat actors.
“We decided to develop Flare Systems after working in the industry and felt that the evolving threat landscape for financial crime not only requires insight and knowledge of how an organization is being targeted, but also the tools to bridge those insights within the functional areas of the business,” explained Mathieu Lavoie, Co-Founder and CEO of Flare Systems. “Today we are providing some of the deepest intelligence available on the market. We are pleased to partner with Luge Capital and Whitestar Capital to help us fuel the fight against this growing global issue.”
Although the customer names remain confidential, Flare Systems confirms that a number of major financial institutions, payment processors and investment firms are among their user base. As part of its growth strategy, Flare Systems is also partnering with established security service providers in Canada, the US and Europe to include its offering in their basket of services.
“Sensitive internal and customer data is growing massively and hacking techniques to steal that data are becoming increasingly sophisticated. There is a critical need in the market for Flare Systems’ solutions that help financial institutions and other organizations protect their data from cybercriminals,” said David Nault, Co-founder and General Partner of Luge Capital. “Flare Systems’ powerful combination of cybersecurity tools give a holistic view on the cyber attack chain and enables collaboration between cybersecurity, fraud and compliance teams.”
About Flare Systems
Flare Systems enables financial institutions to prevent financial crime. Using AI and over 10 years of criminology research, it extracts actionable intelligence from millions of data points from the dark, deep and clear web in real time. Its suite of products provide user-centric intelligence on malicious activities ranging from phishing attacks to money laundering, giving a strategic view of the changing threat landscape and the complete chain of attack. Connect with Flare Systems to learn more!
About Luge Capital
Luge Capital is a fintech focused venture capital fund, investing in early-stage teams shaping the way the world experiences financial services. We invest in fintech and AI solutions applied to financial services and love entrepreneurs challenging the status quo. We work with dedicated teams who are driven to solve real problems that affect people on a global scale. We are an experienced team with value-added investors and a deep industry network to help founders build successful companies. www.luge.vc – Building fintech champions.
More Information
Luge Capital
Sonia Gasparini
Marketing & Operations
514.399.2911
media@luge.vc
Flare Systems
Mathieu Lavoie
CEO
media@flaresystems.com
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