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Financial fraud and other online crime continue to present major threats to businesses, and they remain a key focus for regulators requiring more rigorous efforts to keep illicit activity at bay. Now, London-based Quantexa<\/a> \u2014 one of the big startups providing AI and other tools to major banks and others in financial services, governments and other major organizations to tackle these challenges \u2014 is announcing $129 million in funding, a round that underscores how services like these are being viewed in the market today, and Quantexa\u2019s specific traction within it.<\/p>\n The funding is coming in the form of a Series E that values the startup at $1.8 billion. For some context, this is a major step up from its previous round nearly two years ago (in July 2021), a <\/span>Series D of $153 million<\/a> that was raised at an $800 million \u2013 $900 million valuation. (It\u2019s also a higher number than some thought the round would be: last week a report of Quantexa raising<\/a> estimated that it would be \u201cclose to $1.5 billion\u201d.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Singapore\u2019s sovereign wealth fund GIC \u2014 which was also a major investor in Stripe\u2019s recent $6.5 billion round<\/a> \u2014 led this round, with participation from previous backers <\/span>Warburg Pincus, Dawn Capital, British Patient Capital, Evolution Equity Partners, HSBC, BNY Mellon, ABN AMRO and AlbionVC. Prior to this round, Quantexa had raised $240 million.<\/span><\/p>\n The last six months have been such a tricky time for a lot of startups looking to raise money, but Quantexa is one of the small group that has bucked that trend.<\/p>\n CEO and founder Vishal Marria said in an interview that the round was oversubscribed and is coming at a time when the startup still has \u201cbetween two and three years of runway\u201d from previous rounds and cash it\u2019s generating from its business.<\/p>\n Part of the reason for the strong interest from investors is because of how the company has been doing.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s core products are in the area of risk and compliance \u2014 for example tools to help verify user identities, detect money laundering and to carry out financial investigations. Alongside that Quantexa is using some of the same techniques to build out bigger user \u201cgraphs\u201d for business intelligence and CRM purposes.<\/p>\n Together these are used by hundreds of customers in some 70 countries, the company said, including major enterprise organizations like BNY Mellon, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Danske Bank, Vodafone and the Public Sector Fraud Authority within the U.K.\u2019s Cabinet Office. Marria said that Quantexa has doubled its business in the last 18 months: \u201cWe\u2019ve doubled the number of users, the revenues and the number of industries we target,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n